Yeah, this is also why the "the climate has changed before and will always change" comments are so misleading - indeed it does, and currently, it's in a cold phase, so if we're seeing rapid warming right now, then something is seriously off.
The media also need to stop referring to CO² as just "carbon". That is misleading too. (You didn't to be fair.) Carbon itself is common in our environment and is even okay in many other compounds.