The Greenhouse Effect is a naturally occurring process that has occurred on Earth for millions of years. For ages it has helped to keep the temperature of our planet much warmer than it would otherwise be- about sixty degrees warmer than it would otherwise be. Thanks to the Greenhouse Effect, living creatures have been able to survive. Without it, many plant and animal species would not be around today. And quite possibly, neither would humans.
             You would think that the Greenhouse Effect would be a good thing- but lately it's been taking a turn for the worse. In the more recent years, people have been sending up more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The effect has been increasing, and several bad results have occurred. How did the Greenhouse Effect get its name? It got its name because in its process, certain gases at like greenhouse glass. They trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere and prevent a lot of it from radiating back to outer space. Greenhouse gases allow short-wave radiation from the sun to pass through the atmosphere, but they trap some of the long-wave radiation. These longer waves are reflected back from Earth's surface, but cannot escape the atmosphere. This is where the greenhouse effect occurs.
             What are Greenhouse Gases, exactly? Fifty percent of the greenhouse gas mass consists of Carbon Dioxide. There is also methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and gases from CFC's. CFC stands for chlorofluorocarbons. CFC's are the main components in breaking up the ozone layer. They are synthetic chemicals, meaning that they do not occur naturally on Earth. CFC's are produced in laboratories and factories. They can be found in spray cans and refrigerators, to name a few places. One of the components found in CFC's is chlorine. A single molecule of chlorine can destroy one hundred thousand molecules of ozone! Chlorofluorocarbons were discovered in the 1930's. They became widely used, but in the 1970's people began ...