In 2010, New York City pumped out 54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. That figure's close to meaningless for most of us, though—so here's what it would look like if you could actually see it.

In this video, made by Carbon Visuals, each blue ball represents one ton of carbon dioxide. At atmospheric pressure and temperature, that ball would measure 33 feet in diameter. Guess what New York City would look like after one year, if all that gas lingered—then watch this video. I guarantee you'll be shocked. [YouTube]