Basic definitions: greenhouse effect, global warming, climate change

Sometimes when I'm talking about all of this green living stuff with various people I get brain fuzz and kind of forget various terms and what they all mean. So, to help me (and maybe you) I'm going to work it out here in very basic, simple terms. These three terms form a chain reaction:

Greenhouse Effect: The sun sends energy to the Earth's surface in the form of light, which is absorbed and then reflected back as heat (also known as thermal or infrared radiation). Our atmosphere, which contains naturally-occurring greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide and methane), absorbs the radiation and slowly releases it into space. But because of the excess amount of greenhouse gases caused by human activity (manufacturing, transportation, etc.) that are released, more radiation than normal remains trapped in our atmosphere. This excess human-caused occurrence is known as Enhanced Greenhouse Effect.

Global Warming: The excess radiation (heat) that is trapped in our atmosphere due to excess greenhouse gases causes the Earth's temperature to rise.

Climate Change: Because the Earth's temperature is rising it causes regional climate characteristics (temperature, humidity, rainfall, etc.) to be altered, leading to catastrophic events like melting glaciers, rising oceans, evaporating lakes, devastating hurricanes, heavy snowfall. 

Everything we talk about here is in effort to reduce greenhouse gases, which cause global warming, which causes climate change. Making smarter buying decisions, which (hopefully) impacts manufacturing. Not using so much electricity, which is mostly generated by coal, which releases greenhouse gases. Not driving our cars so much. We believe every little bit counts.

I hope this is helpful (and hopefully I got it right).