What are green house gases and their effects on the environment

Many greenhouse gases occur naturally such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Others such as hydro fluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride result exclusively from human industrial processes. Human activities also add significantly to the level of naturally occurring greenhouse gases such as Carbon dioxide, Nitrous oxide and Methane. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere by the burning of solid waste, wood, wood products, and fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal). Nitrous oxide emissions occur during various agricultural and industrial processes and when solid waste or fossil fuels are burned. Methane is emitted when organic waste decomposes, whether in landfills or in connection with livestock farming. Methane emissions also occur during the production and transport of fossil fuels.

Greenhouse gases vary in their ability to absorb and hold heat in the atmosphere, a phenomenon known as the "greenhouse effect." HFCs and PFCs are the most heat-absorbent, but there are also many differences between naturally occurring gases.

Al Gore, a former president and current author of the book, ‘the inconvenient truth’, states that he believes global warming will be the death of the human race, “It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.”