Overall balance of the Earth: “the sun, the world’s driving force”
The Earth obtains most of its energy from the sun and then sends it back into space again through the atmosphere. However, the greenhouse gases contained in the atmosphere hold on to this energy for a short time before releasing it back into space. This is the "natural greenhouse effect", without which there would be no life on Earth. Without it, there would be an average temperature of minus 19°C here, like there is on the moon, instead of the plus 15°C we enjoy at the moment.
The greenhouse effect is the result of a complex and fragile balance based on exchanges between the Earth, the atmosphere and space. One of the factors that controls this is the amount of greenhouse gas there is in the atmosphere. At the present time right now the level of greenhouse gas is rising very quickly as the result of activity here on Earth by humans. This is causing the average temperature here to rise and this, in turn, is responsible for what we call "climate change".
