Greenhouse Gases: defined

Greenhouse gas is a term used a lot when discussing climate change. Not having a complete understanding of what they are makes them seem impossible to control. As an individual you have the ability to limit your greenhouse gas emissions; however you will not be able to eliminate them.

People most commonly know carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. The entire function of a persons respiratory system is to take in oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide, so literally breathing you are emitting greenhouse gases.

Other, lesser known, greenhouse gases are water vapor, methane, notorious oxide, ozone, and fluorinated gases.

All greenhouse gases are not created equal, some have a larger potency than others (referred to as their Global Warming Potential). All are generally measured against a metric called Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.

So what exactly do they do that is so bad?

Well they are not in themselves bad things as they make up our atmosphere and allowed for life on our planet to exist and thrive. As a world, we’d be kind of screwed if we eliminated all greenhouse gases. On the other hand, we can have to much.

Greenhouse gases are substances which absorb and emit radiation, which helps keep our climate stable. They slow the rate at which the radiation in the form of heat escapes into space. The issue we have is we’re throwing off that stability by increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere which is trapping more heat in our atmosphere.

Ultimately we have this optimal window of greenhouse gas quantities keeping the amount of heat in our atmosphere that all forms of life grew accustom to surviving and thriving in.