Without our atmosphere our temperatures on earth would be similar to the moon. The moon is extremely hot or extremely cold.
Our atmosphere is actually cooling the planet to make it habitable.
NASA has discovered the CO2 in the upper atmosphere protects earth from solar storms. http://www.principia-scientific.org...y-proves-carbon-dioxide-cools-atmosphere.html
Clouds also protect us from intense sunlight and reduces heat loss at night.
Oxygen and nitrogen removes heat from hot surfaces such as roads, buildings, steel roofing, sand etc with the wind dissipating the heat .
As the hot air expands and rises it cools the atmosphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind
