Carbon dioxide (and other gases) creates a "blanket" around theearth trapping heat in the atmosphere. If these "greenhouse" gaseswere not there some of the heat would escape from the earth'satmosphere---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Carbon dioxide is transparent to visible light but opaque toinfrared light (i.e. heat).When sunlight passes through the atmosphere and heats thesurface of the earth the earth radiates infrared light. At lowlevels of carbon dioxide most of this infrared escapes to space,cooling the earth; but at high levels of carbon dioxide most ofthis infrared is reflected back down to the surface of the earth,keeping it hot.