Couple of things.
The first known "NFT", Quantum, was created by Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash in May 2014. It consists of a video clip made by McCoy's wife, Jennifer. That being the case, the industry is much older than 2 years. They hype might be 2 or 3 years old.
Second, Its easy to say, "There is a concern about the environmental impact of NFTs." and then not do anything about it. Thats part of the problem. Instead there are companies and L0s and L1s that are actually doing something about that. Come to the table with solutions, not platitudes.
I'd like to see you speak with companies like Topl who are handeling the "do" part of the environmental. That is the more compelling story.