Image from Ray Weiss
When it comes to ranking anthropogenic greenhouse gases based on their warming potential, carbon dioxide actually falls pretty low on the list -- the problem is that there's just too damn much of it. Thankfully, the atmospheric concentrations of far more potent GHGs, such as nitrous oxide and methane, have not yet followed carbon dioxide's dramatic ascent over the last half-century (though there are some concerns methane levels could soon begin to spike if present trends continue).
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While their brethren, the dreaded chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), may be on the wane, fluorocarbons -- a class of equally dangerous industrial gases -- are still wreaking havoc. As the name implies, the main distinguishing characteristic between CFCs and fluorocarbons is that the latter lacks chlorine; that is, unfortunately, one of the few meaningful differences, as both are extremely destructive in their own respects. 
