Greenhouse gases are not the root cause of climate change. There is something much deeper, and we’ve seen it throughout history.

Once upon a time, the white men came upon the American shores. They brought African people with them whom they enslaved to grow “cash crops,” implying that the plants and the Africans existed solely for their profit. They industrialized every aspect of society, polluting their precious air and water and destroying the natural landscape. They degraded animals into money making machines without any respect for their well being. And what did they call all this? “Progress.” Yes, as long as they were making money, whatever they did was “progress,” no matter how inhumane.

This isn’t just a thing of the past, or just America. We’ve been “progressing” up to this day, and we see it all over the world. Did you know that turkeys can fly and build their nests up in trees? But did you know that domesticated turkeys cannot fly because we fatten them to twice their natural weight? Did you know that amphibians are so sensitive to changes in the climate that they help us predict environmental crises? But did you know that the current extinction rate of amphibians is 45,000 times faster than the natural rate since we raised the global temperature and destroyed their habitats? Did you know that the Amazon Rainforest produces half of the world’s oxygen? But did you know that we cut down nearly 55 square miles of the Amazon every day?

Don’t you see? Our “progress” is nature’s destruction! After all these years, is it really any surprise that nature has finally turned against us? Of course climate change is happening! We have been abusing nature for as long as we’ve existed. And with the deadly duo of industrialization and globalization, we’ve reached a whole new level of “progress,” if you consider global warming, pollution and environmental destruction progress.

Yes, our unrestrained greenhouse gas emissions have resulted in climate change, but the real root cause is in our hearts. Our pride has blinded us from the reality that we are a part of nature, not apart from it. Our greed has blinded us from the reality that the world can only sustain our need, not our greed. We treat the world like it is our slave, and climate change is just a symptom of this abusive relationship.

We must accept full responsibility for this climate catastrophe and do everything in our power to reverse it. If we collaborate, we can make real progress. We have the resources and the intelligence to create a technologically innovative society without destroying the environment and emitting large quantities of greenhouse gases. But this change must begin in our hearts. What good is preaching about the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions if people don’t really care about the environment in the first place?

Our best hope of saving ourselves and our home is to love nature. Spend time in it and admire its beauty and complexity. Live a sustainable lifestyle to prove that you love this Earth. Love is the only thing that can overcome our pride and greed. Love is the only thing that can restore our relationship with nature. As Jimi Hendrix said:

“When the power of love is greater than the love of power, the world will know peace.”