The material that is burning up in Earth's atmosphere during the Quadrantids likely comes from a comet that broke into fragments centuries ago, NASA says.

CNN: Meteor shower will light up night sky for just a few hours

Earth is burning up.

FORBES: Magazine Article

"After hundreds of years orbiting the sun, they will enter our atmosphere at 90, 000 mph, burning up 50 miles above Earth's surface, " NASA said.

CNN: Meteor shower will light up night sky for just a few hours

That's still big enough potentially to produce meteorites -- which are meteoroids, or fragments thereof, that do manage to hit the Earth -- before burning completely.

CNN: Meteor lights up East Coast -- and social media

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, burning plastic is equivalent to burning fossil fuels, says Friends of the Earth (FOE).

CNN: All about plastic

And a few years before that, an 80-tonne space rock called 2008 TC3 ploughed into the Earth's atmosphere, largely burning up and scattering fragments over the Sudan - just 20 hours after it was discovered.

BBC: Science & Environment

Some climate change "sceptics" claim that this process, rather than the burning of fossil fuels, can explain much of the Earth's recent rise in temperature.

BBC: Cloud simulator tests climate models

The good news is that below a certain size, depending on what they're made of, some near-Earth asteroids don't pose any danger, burning up as they pass through the atmosphere.

BBC: Science & Environment

Friends of the Earth wants to see higher recycling targets brought in, along with a tax on burning waste and the removal of current financial incentives for incineration.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Cornwall | Waste disposal restrictions start

Current models show that Earth is getting warmer and warmer due to increased emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and other human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.

CNN: Nature - Satellite sees through Arctic ice for signs of climate change