Is there an analog for an extinction level event of our own creation and which persisted because of a variety of absolutely crawl reasons even after denial became the domain of idiots?
Have you ever heard of the great oxidation event? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event
Though I doubt the anaerobic bacteria was aware enough to be able to deny what was happening in the first place.
Every time I read about how we’re finding micro plastics in places we thought they couldn’t reach (blood-brain barrier recently) I think of the GOE.