English is full of compound adjectives, which may combine an adjective with either another adjective, a participle, or a noun. When numbers or fractions are used to describe a noun, this can also result in a hyphenated adjective.

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Generally, compound adjectives should be hyphenated when they come before a noun (attributive position):

But beyond the well-known attractions.

Caption 20, Greentraveller: The Mendip Hills, Somerset

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This is the high-pitched noise that's been on since the beginning of the talk turning off.

Caption 50, What is theater capable of?: Simon Stone at TEDxSydney

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She was surprised that a good-looking prince was standing there.

Caption 27, Fairy Tales: The Frog King

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For weeks now, this slow-moving crisis has made it difficult—if not impossible—to move barges down the river.

Captions 28-29, Slow News with Sigrid: Climate Change and the Mississippi River

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When the adjective follows the noun (predicative position), it won't be hyphenated: 

But perhaps less well known is the crucial role they play in cooling and cleaning the world's atmosphere.

Captions 14-15, The Prince's Rainforests: Project Prince of Wales' Introduction

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Adjectives coming before the noun that involve numbers and units will generally be hyphenated:

This sunflower sea star has a three-foot-wide arm span.

Caption 16, America's National Parks: Olympic

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This seventy-three-mile-long stretch of wilderness...

Caption 5, America's National Parks: Olympic

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When there is an adverb ending in -ly involved, the compound adjective is not hyphenated:

The next step is to put all the potatoes in a lightly greased roasting tray.

Caption 62, Michele from Down Under: Crispy and Spicy Roast Potatoes

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California sea lions are highly intelligent creatures.

Caption 59, Evolution: The Coasts

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Further Learning
You'll find many examples like this on Yabla English. When you see one, note the position of the compound adjective in the sentence, and its components. 

The term "climate change" is generally used to describe how mankind's activities are affecting our climate today in ways that have a serious impact on our environment, our economy, and our lives.

In order to understand human-induced climate change, or global warming,

we need to understand something about burning fossil fuels.

Captions 7-8, Chemistry for All | FuseSchool - How Burning Fossil Fuels Leads to Climate Change

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Wikipedia describes fossil fuel as a material "such as coal, oil, and natural gas, formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals, that is extracted and burned as a fuel." The air pollution caused by fossil fuels causes global warming. Global warming, in turn, is the largely human-caused increase of our planet's temperatures over the last decades. If global warming continues....

... the glaciers will melt

and the level of the seas will rise unpredictably.

Captions 48-49, Once upon a Time... Planet Earth - The Guardians of the Planet

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As a result...

Countless deltas in coastal regions will be flooded.

Caption 50, Once upon a Time... Planet Earth - The Guardians of the Planet

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In addition to these problems...

So there are more floods, droughts, and storms.

Caption 66, Chemistry for All | FuseSchool - How Burning Fossil Fuels Leads to Climate Change

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A drought is the opposite of a flood: instead of too much water, there isn't enough. Without enough water, farmers are unable to grow the kinds of food that they used to in the past. Property, crops, and even human lives are lost as a direct result of storms, floods, and droughts caused by global warming.

The single most effective and significant action

that can be taken in the short term to stabilize global warming

is to stop tropical rainforest destruction.

Captions 6-8, The Prince's Rainforests Project - Prince of Wales' Introduction

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King (formerly Prince) Charles of Great Britain is probably correct in his statement that stopping the destruction of rainforests would help slow climate change. However, it's only going to change if wealthy people like King Charles and large profit-driven corporations are made to take financial and moral responsibility for the destruction they are causing.

But they won't make the necessary changes

because they have put their astronomical profits before people.

Captions 8-9, Breaking News - Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen

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The article above is referring to Facebook, but it's just as valid for companies that continue to make record profits from fossil fuels. Let's hope that the wealthiest people and companies are someday able to recognize that the planet they are polluting is the same planet where they, their families, and their descendants are supposed to be living. But in order to do that, they'll have to put humanity's long-term survival before their own profit margins.

Let's each of us continue to do our small part in reducing our consumption of products that directly lead to global warming!

Further Learning
Go to Yabla English and watch the videos above. You can also search for some of the highlighted words to find more English videos related to climate change.