Global societies are adding 40 billion townhouses worth of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year. As big as the earth is, when you think about it that way, it makes it exceptionally difficult to imagine how our fossil fuel use couldn't be having catastrophic effects.
Here's another CO2 comparison I've thought of, but I've never heard used. One kilo of carbon dioxide is literally one kilo of dry ice. So a metric ton of CO2 is a pile of 1000 bags of dry ice. So that's 40 billion piles, made up of 1000 1kg bags of dry ice, burnt into our atmosphere. Each year.