We hear a lot about greenhouse gases, the main culprits of global warming and climate change. But have you ever stopped to think about what a greenhouse gas is at a molecular level? Why do they lead to temperature rise – and some more than others? Are they different from other gases, and if so, how? Once released, can they be re-captured?

In the first episode of our GLF Live mini-series of “climate crash courses” – 15-minute lessons on foundational terms and topics we might have overlooked in our learnings – Paola Andrea Arias, who is the first Colombian woman author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, walks us through the greenhouse gas basics: how they’re formed, when they’re released and why they’re bad for our atmosphere.

Music: Gargantua by Admiral Bob (c) copyright 2014. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/46361 Ft: My Free Mickey, Martijn de Boer