Sept. 7, 2026

Learning from Fire: What Scorched Earth Teaches Us About Renewal through Regeneration

Show Notes
Transcript

What if fire — the very force that threatens to take everything — is also nature's oldest teacher of renewal? After flames came within two miles of our family cottage, and a summer of fire scorched three continents, REGENERATE asks what scorched earth can teach us about coming back stronger — as people, as leaders, as a species buying time for life to adapt. If not now… when?

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Ahoy!

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Captain David Gallimore welcomes you aboard the Regenerate Show, live Mondays,

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10 a.m. Pacific on K4HD Radio at K4HD. com. Now, here's

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your host, Captain Dave, your personal regenerator. All aboard!

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Ahoy, friends, and welcome to Episode 30 of the Regenerate Show.

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I'm Captain Dave, your personal regenerator. So this show is

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all about being a safe space for our guests. And

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today I'm going to be my own guest and I'm

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intending to be as vulnerable, true, not performative in the

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stories that I share about the messy middle of my

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own personal professional transformation. I'm not going to be focusing

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on organization today, but more personal and community. These are

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stories we need now more than ever to inspire us

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to grow into our better selves, to improve our health

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and to become more resilient, to better handle all sorts

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of disruption from AI to climate change, to economic and

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political uncertainty. So I point to hope today to provide

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a few simple strategies and tools that you can use

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to become someone who brings more resilience, purpose, authentic energy

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to the people that you love. And when you're ready,

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to our planet, our only ship. So what is regeneration? Well,

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my belief, it's the underlying nature-based framework of the show,

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and it draws from 4.5 billion years of life. And

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I learned to change that number from 3.8 billion after

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one of our guests, Jovan Barnovic, who we had on

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last week. And that's when the earth really became this

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ball But it was the vessel upon which life emerged.

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So I'm changing my, I can, I can be taught

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this old dog can learn new tricks. And so regeneration

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really draws from that original four and a half billion

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years when the planet was really formed. It's about restoring

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vitality across every living system, ourselves, our families, our teams.

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And what I want to talk a bit about is

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our communities today and working together. I believe we can

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move beyond mere sustainable living and In other words, do

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no harm to regenerative living, becoming like a healthy forest,

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nurturing across the seasons, a resilient and abundant life. Not

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just plants, but animals and probably human beings have lived

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in the forests. So regeneration shows up in many forms.

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For example, today I was on a call with my

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dear friend and colleague, Bert Eckert from Belgium. For those

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of you that are just now joining the Regenerate show,

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he was our second guest. back in February, and he's

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an expert in emotional management. But sometimes even experts need

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someone to simply listen and let them know they're seen, heard,

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and loved for who they are. Well, that's the work

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that I got to do today. So I created Regenerate,

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this show to lift up purpose-driven leaders, to connect them

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in bonds of love and adventure, creating, building leadership and impact.

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As a guide, a maritime captain, and a lifelong learner,

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I really feel the privilege that I get to live

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my ikigai, my reason for being, every day. So whether

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you're a longtime crew or joining for the first voyage,

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welcome aboard. I hope you discover something today that changes

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how you see yourself, and especially what's possible to improve

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the health of our people, especially our communities, our planet,

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and I think profit as well. And some of my

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friends that are in the environmental world world, they don't

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like it when I talk about profit, but profit allows

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us to fund the investments that are going to be

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required to be able to become more in harmony with

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our planet. So consider it your role model. And if

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you like this content, share it with others and be

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a teacher of regenerative living. So finally, here's my promise. First,

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we're going to have some fun today. Second, I hope

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to leave you inspired. And third, leave you with just

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one thing you can apply before you sleep tonight. So

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please grab a pen, digital or real, and transformations happen here.

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So our theme today is learning from fire. What scorched

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earth teaches us about renewal through regeneration? So learning from fire.

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But I want to start with a story. So last year,

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July 4th weekend, there were a number of young people

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at Lake Cushman, where we now call home, and they

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were having a great time at a place called Party Rock.

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And every July 4th, people bring fireworks into the national forest.

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So we're in the Olympics, and it's illegal to fire

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fireworks in a national forest for kind of obvious reasons.

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It's often filled with flammable fuels, everything from grasses and

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and bushes all the way up to trees that are

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20 to 25 feet in diameter. I mean, old growth,

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Douglas firs and cedar, they're, they're just majestic. But in

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July in the Seattle area, they're the driest they'll ever be.

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Maybe not quite as dry as they'll be in August,

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but certainly very dry. And so it's just a tender

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or a problem to happen. Last July, some kids were

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shooting off fireworks. And one of the bottle rockets landed

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on a very dry part of a very steep slope.

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Mount Rose is the mountain. And within minutes, that fire

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was raging. It took a few hours, but it climbed

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very quickly and very broadly up to the top of

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Mount Rose. And almost 10 years later, you know, just

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slightly shy of 10 years. So the previous July 4th

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of 2016 was when we had a similar incident where

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young people were firing off fireworks and that triggered Bear

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Gulch Fire number one. And so nearly 10 years later,

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there was Bear Gulch Fire number two. And our cottage

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is only about a mile and a half away. Now, thankfully,

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our son, Ian, excuse me, Gets me all choked up

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just talking about it. Our son Ian and his two

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dogs were here at the cottage at the time. And

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so they were able to be a scout for what

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was going to unfold over the course of several months.

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In hindsight, he put himself at risk. We had several

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discussions about the air quality because a fire that big,

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it actually grew to 22,000 acres. So it was almost

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three times bigger than the 2016 Bear Gulch fire. And

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because of the prevailing winds from the Southwest and the

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fire was Southwest of us, a lot of that smoke

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came into Lake Cushman developments and into our cottage. He's

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a smart man. And so he stayed indoors and he

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had these HEPA filters. So he was able to, maintain

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a reasonable air quality inside the house, inside the cottage.

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But it was absolutely frightening because when you think about it,

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if the prevailing winds were doing what they often will

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do in the wintertime, which is to come rise at

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some 15, 20 miles an hour, gust to 25 miles

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an hour, it doesn't take very long to cover that

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mile and a half with a fire. And it's the embers, apparently,

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as we've been learning over the years, that is the

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biggest risk. So when the wind was blowing the smoke

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away from our cottage, Ian was up on the roof

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and installing different protective measures under the soffits and in

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the venting and in our fireplace. And he had a

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go bag. He was ready in case the authorities requested

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that people leave. On the other side of Lake Cushman,

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the residents were mandated to leave and sadly many lost

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their homes or their structures that they had on the

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other side of the lake. I would say that through

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the ordeal, the Forest Service and I would say it's

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the Department of the Interior, they really responded quickly. We

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had probably more than our fair share of firefighters and

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airplanes that were swooping down and picking up water and

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then taking off again and dropping that water on the fire.

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And they ran sortie after sortie after sortie for weeks.

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So I felt a lot safer. My son felt a

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lot safer because of all of the attention that this

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particular fire was getting. In the 10-year-old version of it,

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Bear Gulch Fire 1, the authorities had way higher by

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a And so ours kept raging. But apparently it was

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just naturally more contained. Not sure why. And it was

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not until that following fall, winter. So that fire went

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the whole winter before it was really put out. Whereas

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this fire, the 2025 fire, it was largely contained before

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the winter snows. The rainy season certainly helped in October

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and November. And then when the snows came in December,

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that's what put the fire out. And my hat's off

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to the amazing people, firefighters on the ground, the community

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that came together. it was really a remarkable outpouring of

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how a community can work together when their collective backs

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are against the wall. That gives me hope for the

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future in terms of how the community came together. And

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my own son, Ian, I'm so proud of him. He

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did a lot to meet the firefighters with water and food.

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He bought dozens of different foods for them and Many

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of them wanted to have some chewing tobacco, so he

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would buy that. Whatever the firefighters needed, he was there

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for them. I just love that about my son. He's

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got a huge heart, but he does something. He makes

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things happen. And on Facebook, boy, I'll tell you, the

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outpouring of love and support was pretty remarkable. I don't

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think I saw any negatives. trolling or any negative comments

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to what was happening. So it was really a great moment,

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I think, for our community that really did come together.

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And like I mentioned just a moment ago, it gives

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me hope that maybe we can work better together when

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we have a common enemy. Can I call it that?

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Certainly fire is one of the scariest things. And you're

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basically only about six minutes away from in a mile

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and a half, given how, how the embers can really

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fly at, at just at the roof, at just at

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the treetops. And that's what catches a fire. So it's,

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it's just an amazing experience. Now, obviously there's a lot

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of ramifications to our community about how do we keep

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the environment safe? I can only imagine how much wildlife

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was lost. You know, mammals and, Insects and, of course,

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all of the trees and shrubbery, grasses and things, and

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the streams that have been polluted from all of that.

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And then not to mention all of the carbon that

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was emitted into the atmosphere. That's going to be adding

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to our carbon footprint up in the atmosphere. That's only

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going to cause even more, in my opinion, in the

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consensus of science around the globe, CO2 and methane are

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two of the gases that are contributing significantly to our

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rising average global temperatures. And we'll put in the show

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notes some of the references to that. So part of

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what I wanted to share next, when we go to our,

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after we come back from our commercial break, I want

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to talk a little bit about, you know, what are

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the lessons from Bayer? How does a scorched earth teach

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us about renewal through regeneration? Rebel, if you'd be so

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kind to just roll the commercial and then we'll be

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right back.

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You're listening to Regenerate with Captain Dave, your personal regenerator

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on K4HD Radio. We'll be right back. Are you feeling overwhelmed?

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Are you ready to regenerate and live the life of

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your dreams? Start the transformation now. Call Captain Dave at 253-237-2558.

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Stop overthinking.

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Again, call 253-237-2558 or.

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Go to regenerativeworldgroup.com to book a free, no obligation clarity call.

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Let's get back to regenerate right here on K4HD Radio

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for more life-changing transformations. Here's your host, Captain Dave, your

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personal regenerator.

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Welcome back, friends. So if you're just now joining us,

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I'm my own guest today. Brilliant, of course. And I'm

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talking a little bit about now how fire and all

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of the ramifications of fire, what scorched earth, can teach

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us about renewal through generation. And I shared a short story,

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or maybe not so short, of the Bear Gulch fire

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at Lake Cushman in the summer into the fall and

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winter of last year, 2025, and how devastating it was

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and how scary it was, but how the community rallied

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and we came together and a lot of resources to

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the credit of the Interior Department and the local and

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regional and state firefighting community. They brought their A game,

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and I'm so grateful. So I did say before the

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break that we were going to go into some of

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the regenerative lessons learned, but I forgot that I wanted

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to talk briefly about this year's challenges with fire. So

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this summer, fire went planetary. For example, over 267,000 people

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were evacuated from Spain and France in a matter of days.

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And First Nations communities had to be airlifted out of

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northwestern Ontario by the Canadian Armed Forces. And firefighters from Mexico,

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Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia came across oceans to help

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because no country has enough crews alone. And so when

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it's the winter down under in the southern part of

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our planet, they have firefighting resources that are now freed up.

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And so thankfully they were willing to come and help us.

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And I think the reverse will likely be happening in

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our winter when the fire season is far less and

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we can send our resources to help fight fire in

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New Zealand, Australia, and other parts of the world. So

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smoke is this great equalizer. 345 million people were exposed

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to unhealthy air this summer versus a comparable 2023 season.

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There were over 70,400 deaths reaching people who never saw

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a flame. And that, perhaps, was the biggest awakening that

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I had during our 2025 fire. It's the smoke that

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can kill, not just the flames and the heat. And

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of course, there must have been millions of animals that

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lost their lives, an unknown number. And we often don't

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get to grieve those losses because we don't see those animals,

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those insects. So not everything is a record, but it's

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volatility and it's a rising baseline, longer, fiercer fire seasons.

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Communities that have never before evacuated are now doing so routinely.

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And so it's my prediction, And I hate to be

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the Dave Downer about this, but I do believe that

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this is going to be more of our future. And

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so we can either be Pollyanna about it and not

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be aware of all of the real risks. We can

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just own and keep living lives. But fire doesn't care

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if you're beautiful or ugly, if you're wealthy or poor,

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if you're stupid or ignorant or just, want to be

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an ostrich and put your head in the sand, it'll

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kill you. So Mother Nature doesn't really have an emotion

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about this. We do when we get impacted by it.

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But yeah, Mother Nature, she's going to do what she's

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going to do. And we can either be realists and

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then do something about what's likely going to be our future,

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or we're going to have a really, really hot and

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dangerous fire season. And it's going to be basically... 24-7

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around the globe, because when it's our summer, the risks

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will be in the Northern Hemisphere. And when it's the

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Southern Hemisphere summer, the risks are going to be down under.

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So the question that I've been thinking about for this

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show is, what does fire teach us about renewal? Fire

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exists in nature before men and women figured out how

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to take a flint and a rock and create a spark.

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or before we rub sticks together to create heat, which

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then turned into flames. So Mother Nature had invented fire,

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you know, hundreds of millions of years. Let's just say

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we were born from fire, the crucible, 4.5 billion years,

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according to Javan. So fire is just part of nature.

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So with renewal... what I understand after doing a little

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bit of research a few years ago is you've got

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trees that have serotonin cones. So the jack pine, the

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lodge pole, they only open and become what they were

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meant to become, a tree. inflames heat. So they actually

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are designed, they come to life only in fire. And

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the fire following after the devastation where plants and grasses

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and trees have been consumed by the fire, the first

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life that starts to emerge are wildflowers. Weeds, you might

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call them, but many in the forest are really beautiful wildflowers.

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And they provide the beginning of that nutrient cycle. And

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because the tree canopy has been cleared, so that light

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now is available to those nascent plants. And so they thrive.

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And apparently the ash is a pretty good soil nutrition,

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soil nutrient. So the destruction and the renewal are part

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of the same event, but they're just on different timelines.

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We also know that, um, there have been peoples, the

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indigenous peoples from around the globe that really used fire effectively.

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I think good fire, if you want to call it that.

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So they did cultural burning, you know, tens of thousands

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of years of stewarding the land with fire rather than

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against it. Now they had that opportunity to use fire to,

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you know, clear the path, if you will, and regenerate

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with new life, new plants, new animals, because they were

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more nomadic and they could move away from the fire

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that they might have set purposely to clear the forest

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so that when they came back in a few years,

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it would be more plentiful with new life, new berries,

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new foods to be able to hunt and gather from.

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So a century of us now, recently, sophisticated, developed world

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citizens where we have chosen to suppress fire for a

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lot of very good reasons, right? Many more rural communities

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now have homes and businesses and factories and solar farms.

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I suspect that there'll be data centers that are going

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to be built in places that are might not be

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the best places to build them, but the land is

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cheap and so they're going to build them. But the

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fuel load has been building in that century of allowing

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human beings to control the environment rather than letting the

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environment do what it has done for millennia. And so

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with all of that increase in fuels, we're basically feeding

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these megafires. And this is part of why I'm so

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attracted to regeneration is we human beings acting outside of nature,

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thinking that we can control nature. I think we're waking

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up to the fact that as much as we would

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like to control nature, nature is going to do what

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nature is going to do. And so it's a lesson

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of what happens when we serve ourselves and sever ourselves

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from nature's logic. And so what's fascinating to me, it

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takes a little bit of humility, but Primitive, when old

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white guys like myself talk about, oh, how sophisticated I am,

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the sophisticated practice is really the one that's doing the harm.

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The primitive practice or the indigenous practice, I think that's

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more accurate, more respectful. The indigenous practice is much more

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aligned with nature's logic and not severed from other nurturers.

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So from forests to humans, this idea of regeneration, um,

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there's this pattern where nature runs after catastrophe and she

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doesn't rebuild the same. She rebuilds healthier and more diverse

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and therefore more resilient. Isn't that interesting? So I've seen

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this when our family has gone on hikes, um, not

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just after Barragulge fire number one, but also Barragulge fire

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number two, um, the forest is just alive with life

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and that's very exciting. And it's accelerated the death of

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the older growth that just was not serving the greater

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good in the forest. Now there's still a lot of

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old growth trees that have survived. Yay us. And that's nature, right?

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Calling through the herd, if you will, or using evolution, um,

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those plants and animals that can adapt faster, they're going

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to thrive as a result of that catastrophe. So regeneration

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is not sustainability, right? Sustainability is holding steady. You sustain

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a note, that is not moving forward. Whereas a regenerative

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approach is leaving the system more alive than nature found

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it at the beginning. And so When you think about

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fires and how it relates to us as individuals, we

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have our identity, we have our view of the world,

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our roles, we hang on to these identities as certainties.

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But sometimes the world is changing around us, isn't it?

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We know that from just picking up the news or

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watching social media. And just like the dinosaurs, died off

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because they were not able to adapt. My belief is

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that we human beings, should we choose not to adapt

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fast enough, there's no guarantee that we'll be on the planet.

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Mother Nature, again, this is the sixth life-changing epoch. There

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have been five previous epochs where about a third of

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life has been killed off. in ice ages or in

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fire so this is our sixth one of these and

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we know that we're in a receding ice age so

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that we know you know mother earth is just getting

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warmer based on her cycle as she's orbiting around our

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sun and and our sun is orbiting around other celestial

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bodies so it's kind of that perfect storm that seems

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to be happening at this time in our history on

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earth We've got Mother Earth getting warmer on her own.

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And then we human beings, based on the science that

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I've read, and I do believe it, that we human

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beings have our finger on the scale and we're accelerating

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these changes. So we have an opportunity to look at

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our identities, look at our lifestyles and say, hmm, how's

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that going? How's that working out? And what do we

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need to burn? What do we need to shed? What

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do we need to allow to emerge? And that's really

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why I gave up the corporate crazy back in January

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of 2022. My identity, and Javan and I talked about

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this a little bit last week in our episode around

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regeneration and living your values, designing your life rather than

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life designing you, and And I told a story about

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how my identity was so tied to my income and

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my title and what company brand, you know, IBM or

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Boeing or Capgemini or T-Mobile. My identity was wrapped up

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in all of that. Certainly my identity was also greatly

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influenced by my family. I do everything because of wanting

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to serve and support my family. And thankfully, um, My

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wife feels the same, and so we've never been more

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aligned on how do we help ourselves and our children

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by strengthening and nurturing, regenerating, if you will, our family.

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By the way, Margaret returned from several months up in

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Alaska supporting our daughter Catherine with her, Margaret's and my Granddaughter, Daisy,

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who's just a ball of fire, unintended, and helping our daughter, Catherine,

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prepare for the birth of our second grandchild, Calvin, who

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has 10 fingers and 10 toes, big old head of hair,

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and healthy lungs. So he's peeing and pooping and just

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what one-month-olds should be doing. So Margaret's returned, and I'm

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so grateful. If you're listening... Maggie, I'm so grateful, more

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than you even can know. Because when you are doing

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Learning from Fire: What Scorched Earth Teaches Us About Renewal through Regeneration

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