Which gas create greenhouse effect in the atmosphere

The greenhouse effect is a good thing. It warms the planet to temperatures that keep life on earth, well, livable. Without it, the world would be more like Mars: a frozen, uninhabitable place. The problem is, the voracious burning of fossil fuels for energy is artificially amping up the natural greenhouse effect. The result? An increase in global warming that is altering the planet’s climate system. Here’s a look at what the greenhouse effect is, what causes it, and how we can temper its contributions to our changing climate. Sunlight, with the natural greenhouse effect process, makes the earth habitable. While around 30 percent of the solar energy—the light and heat from the sun—that reaches our world is reflected back into space, the rest is either absorbed by the atmosphere or the earth’s surface. This process, which is constantly happening around the globe, warms the planet. This heat is then radiated back up in the form of invisible infrared radiation. While some of this infrared light continues on into space, the vast majority gets absorbed by atmospheric gases, known as greenhouse gases, causing further warming. But higher concentrations of greenhouse gases, and carbon dioxide (CO2) in particular, are causing extra heat to be trapped and average global temperatures to rise. For most of the past 800,000 years—much longer than human civilization has existed—the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere was roughly between 200 and 280 parts per million. (In other words, t...