argumate:

the environmental messaging in Mononoke is a little more nuanced than similar tales, but I’m still struck by how many stories focus on forests fucking you up for cutting down trees even though in real life they put up basically no resistance, maybe it’s because people think they should? or they want to make human victory over the forest seem more heroic than something that can’t fight back?

and the adversary is often industry and mining in particular, Saruman’s forges running hot, Iron Town with its smelters, when of course the vast majority of forest is cut down for pasture and farmland to feed the swelling ranks of humanity.

finally the spirits of the forest are all very indigenous in presentation, but what do they think of firestick farming to reshape the forest to the advantage of human hunters? is that really qualitatively different to medieval forest management or slash and burn agriculture?

Clearcutting for conversion to pasturage is a real thing in i.e. colonial Ireland and the Amazon and parts of the American Northeast.

But a lot of it incl. Germany and Japan and parts of the American Midwest/West was deforestation for use as a material or fuel input to early industrialization