5 things you should know about the greenhouse gases warming the planet

The greenhouse effect describes a similar phenomenon on a planetary scale but, instead of the glass of a greenhouse, certain gases are increasingly raising global temperatures. However, human activity is resulting in the increased emission of so-called greenhouse gases (GHGs) which, unlike other atmospheric gases such as oxygen and nitrogen, becomes trapped in the atmosphere, unable to escape the planet. What are the major greenhouse gases? How is human activity producing these greenhouse gases? Over a 20-year period, the global warming potential of some fluorinated gases is up to 16,300 times greater than that of CO2.