If by "this mess" you mean civilisation in general, then yes, civilisation and science have originated in places where people had to make large scale changes to environment to survive (mesopotamia, egypt, etc.). But then "this mess" is much better than the alternative of small tribes living as hunter gatherers, until planet would run out of CO2 in 600mln years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

And this is why some many people dismiss climate change as just noise- 'Climate change will kill us all'- 'then we should plant trees here'- 'we can't do that- think of the cacti and gerbils'

If climate change is really something that needs OMG now levels of response you can't then dismiss every response on philosophical reasons.

I have lived near deserts/semi-deserts, they are desolate and miserable places where some life survives despite all odds. Keeping a small number of national parks as deserts is of course important, but that does not need to be more than 1% of the area that is taken by deserts today.