I think she was talking about the massive deforestation in the Amazon basin and in Indonesia, in the tropics, in other words...replacing forests with range land. It does have an environemental impact. It directly affects the water shed, how much rain an area gets, and what carrying capacity for growing things the land has.
And they aren't replanting and practicing the type of land management that is used in the US.
This is the reality. Humans have always shaped their enviroments in ways that seem good to the do-ers at the time. Sometimes it's good, like how clear cuts actually work better in some types of forests than selective harvesting, and sometimes it works worse, like daming the Nile, or overgrazing marginal areas.
This is the way the world works. Things change.
Those that worship the environment get stupid about it, like sacrificing lots of land where beetles have killed the trees because they don't want any logging at all, and thus the areas burn hot and the soil sterilizes somewhat and the natural plant succession is interrupted, and they end up destroying more than they save.
Those that understand the real science and aren't pushing an agenda sometimes manage to do something about it in positive ways. This is land management. Poor cultures don't do that nearly as much as rich ones. Therefore, the best way to get the world in good land management use is to encourage the economic development of these areas in the tropics, and get them to the point where they can afford to take care of their lands.
I agree with everything you said....
Do you agree that as much as envirowackos can be stupid, some of the knee jerk reactions here, reacting to some fairly benign observations about the planet from above, are not better, only equal-and-opposite stupid?