PULLMAN, Wash. – If it weren’t for greenhouse gases, Earth would be an extremely cold, deserted planet. Plants couldn’t grow and animals like us wouldn’t be able to survive.
Greenhouse gases, like all gases, are made up of molecules. Air, for example, is a gas made of mostly nitrogen and oxygen molecules. We breathe those molecules all the time. They fill up our lungs and help us burp.
When I visited my friend Brian Lamb, an engineer at Washington State University, he told me there are a few things that set greenhouse gases apart from other kinds of gases.
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