What are greenhouse gasses and what role do they play in climate change?
Greenhouse gases contribute to the insulation of the atmosphere — producing the so-called greenhouse effect — which lets sunlight in to heat the Earth but stops some of that heat from escaping back out into space. Greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, carbon dioxide and others. Carbon dioxide is one of the main culprits of climate change, trapping heat near the planet’s surface. Carbon dioxide is produced in large part by the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy.
