Human self-awareness and what we’ve done with merits some acknowledgment of how it’s helped us become what we are (better or worse). But it’s definitely not something we can lay sole claim to. There’s plenty of others that have their own version that came with whatever evolution drove them to. We do remain the one species that can really, really reshape the environment and landscapes outside of what we need to survive (compared to beavers, who can build wetlands but don’t know exactly what they’re doing). The fact that we know why we’re doing, and that often our actions have negative consequences, is why we owe it to the rest of the beings on this planet to do better.