The world just lived through the 11 hottest years on record

Having come across Zapffe's "existential elk" theory in the last year, it's hard to not see consciousness as a design flaw rather than an upgrade that sits at the root of the things driving climate change, e.g. hyperconsumerism, rampant use of non-renewable materials, and all the other things we choose into for personal satisfaction despite the negative impacts to the whole.

Might we have been better off without consciousness, or at least not as detrimental to the planet? I don't know.

Aerosols have on balance negative radiative forcing, so the increased warming is partly because of reductions in anthropogenic aerosol emissions. This effect was anticipated, at least by scientists, if not policymakers and activists.