The greenhouse effect occurs when light passes through a material (the glass in a greenhouse, or the earth's atmosphere) which is transparent to shorter (visible) wavelengths but opaque to longer (infrared) wavelengths. The incoming light is absorbed by the flower beds in the greenhouse, or the earth's surface. This causes them to warm up and re-radiate the incoming energy at infrared wavelengths, which are then trapped beneath the greenhouse layer, further increasing the temperature. For the earth as a whole, as long as the atmosphere remains unchanged, the greenhouse effect will remain constant. (Currently, the earth is nearly 40 degrees Celsius or 72 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would be without any atmosphere.)

The most significant greenhouse gas in the earth's atmosphere is carbon dioxide (CO2), accounting for about two-thirds of the total atmospheric greenhouse effect. Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are also important contributors. Human activity has caused the atmospheric concentrations of all of these gases to increase substantially over the past couple of centuries. As a result, increasing amounts of infrared radiation are trapped and the temperature begins to rise--in other words, global warming.

The greenhouse effect is the heating of the surface of a planet or moon due to the presence of an atmosphere containing gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation. In the absence of the greenhouse effect and an atmosphere, the Earth's average surface temperature of 14 °C (57 °F) could be as low as −18 °C (−0.4 °F), the black body temperature of the Earth.

Used and thrown away diapers and other non-decomposable materials emit considerable amount of methane and other toxins increasing the green house gas composition, thereby causing global warming.

green house gases causes global warming