I think you could be right. At least, we know but choose or are too lazy to do anything about it.

Recently I've found myself too stressed to even think about it. Too many stresses in life and I can do without the planet for now.

Totally selfish I know, but I'll get back to it when other things have died down.

I think what we need is something which helps us recognise the issues. Not only that but show us what we can do to help! We have to understand at a micro-level, how we can make an impact in aggregate.

> Yet somehow the sum total of their activity results in a conscious being

That seems like a slightly peculiar idea of what a conscious being is.

Humans are essentially a collective of symbiotic organisms which have been working together for so very long that some are no longer distinguishable as separate. We know that we have DNA that came from external sources. We know that we carry around a host of bacteria that are vital to our life and health. Somehow all of this (Scientifically speaking)results in an entity with a sense of "I". If you aren't thinking about it religiously, how else would one think about it?

Even mitochondria were external beings originally.

In a real sense we are a joint venture.