It's also incredibly important to note that Bitcoin (and really all current cryptocurrency implementations) are still very much in their early stages, like a ch

It's also incredibly important to note that Bitcoin (and really all current cryptocurrency implementations) are still very much in their early stages, like a child intuitively understanding the spatial dimensions of the world by bumping into furniture. The environment probably needs more rigorous and academic consideration in order to legitimise it (if for no other reason than that it does contribute to comp sci theory at least). I also do not think that Satoshi Nakamoto intended for his technology to be the last say in the crypto space. The implementation was given to the world to iterate on and improve the tech (just like every other tech ever). Environmental impact of mining, inefficiency, scalability etc. should all be considered candidates for improvement as opposed to armchair criticism alone.