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Scientists sometimes refer to the Earth as the 'Goldilocks planet'.

Like the porridge in the fairy tale, our little pale-blue marble is not too hot, not too cold, as we are in the habitable zone of our star, the Sun.

The key to the survival of most species on Earth is the greenhouse effect of our atmosphere.

While 98% of it is made of nitrogen, oxygen and argon gas - the critically important 2% for us are carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane and others.

These "greenhouse gases" allow solar radiation from the Sun to pass through and warm the planet, but trap enough of the heat as it bounces back into space, to keep us and all living things in a relatively cosy environment.

In fact, if it wasn't for the greenhouse effect the world's average temperature would be a distinctly icy -18C!

However, this nicely balanced warming that has helped life on Earth to thrive has become significantly unbalanced over the past 200 years.

The smattering of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere has increased rapidly and it's mainly down to humans and their use of fossil fuels.

The industrial revolution that started in Britain in the 18th Century, saw an explosion in the use of coal, oil and gas to power our engines and factories.

These fossil fuels were so useful because they contained massive amounts of concentrated carbon energy.

But as we have burned more and more of them, all that CO2 has escaped to the atmosphere where it lingers for centuries..

It traps more and more heat and has now pushed the Earth's temperatures to record highs.

This global warming poses a huge threat to our future.

But it's not just about heat.

Scientists prefer the term 'climate change' to fully encompass the changes that are happening to our planet.

We are seeing record droughts in many parts of the Earth and we are also seeing more intense storms and floods.

This is because warmer air carries more moisture which means when it rains, there's far more water to come tumbling down.

We are seeing more days when wildfires are more likely to happen, we are seeing the movement of many species including those carrying disease.

We are experiencing huge ice loss in the Arctic which will make the world warmer still as there's less frozen water to reflect back heat into space.

Taken together, the rise in greenhouse gases and the ensuing climate changes we are seeing, threaten the very fabric of life on Earth.