I think it's important to keep focused on the positive things. When you're down look at everything that has improved for inspiration. Almost all countries signed the Paris climate agreement, lots of companies are now asking for and promoting sustainable sourcing of materials because consumers are asking for it and because those companies started to realize that's the only way to stay in business in the long run.

This is probably hard to do if you are surrounded by lots of people who don't give a damn as you say. So, why not connect to people who think like you? You could try to find if there are environmental action groups where you live. Perhaps you can so some actions together and try and persuade a local company to be more green.

And of course there's always the internet. There are lots of initiatives you can join online; signing petitions, sending positive twitter or facebook messages to green companies and calls for action to companies that are not green yet.

Ultimately it's all about raising awareness and reaching a critical mass, which BTW is something I think we have achieved when it comes to climate change. Many people, companies and governments are now aware of the problem and actions are being taken.

@THelper of course it's a tough one ;-/

re: positive things, well, the thing with Paris is, high politics has been signing this and that treaty for twenty five years now, it just does not matter (or matter enough it would seem)

re: surrounded by people. Here's the thing. Most people I know are pretty smart I'd say. So I need to assume that they could rationally understand the risks involved in climate change and the high probability of it to happen (i.e. climate change is unlikely to be fake news), yet they choose not to care. It's obviously cognitive dissonance and the stress that results from it.

re: environmental action group. Hmm. I am actively engaged in one group (themed around sustainable energy and ressource efficiency) and I know like five other local groups that are involved in saving the environment and other ecological topics. Yet no matter what they or we do, the critical mass thing just seems not to happen. Actually it's not just about critical mass, the problem even starts in finding five more, or ten more (insert any small number) people to actively contribute

re: awareness. Even people who are aware (say save energy, walk to the bakery instead of taking the van, consume less, ... and whatnot), even them do trips around the world. You cannot ever reduce your CO2 footprint again after doing that.