ELI5: What is the greenhouse effect?

Imagine the Earth is like a giant garden. The sun's light and warmth are like the sunshine that helps plants grow.

But, just like a real greenhouse made of glass, our Earth has a natural blanket around it made of special gases called greenhouse gases. Think of them like a cozy blanket of air.

Here's how it works:

• The sun's light shines through the atmosphere and warms the Earth's surface, like the ground and the oceans.
• The Earth then radiates some of this heat back into space as infrared radiation, which is like heat waves.
• Greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, trap some of this heat. They don't let all of it escape back into space.
• This trapped heat keeps the Earth warm enough for us to live comfortably, just like the glass in a greenhouse keeps the plants warm even when it's cold outside.

But here's the problem:

• We're adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas for electricity, cars, and factories.
• This extra greenhouse gases trap more heat.
• This is causing the Earth's temperature to rise, leading to global warming and climate change.