This lazy cynicism is far too commonplace, and easily countered: If a whole lot of people added their half-seconds together, it would matter a whole lot.
You either care enough to change your behavior or you don't. Don't pass your lack of courage of conviction off onto nameless "...politicians, business leaders or [those] high up in a relevant regulatory agency."
I already addressed that in the last paragraph of my comment. Yes, if a whole lot of people did it together, it would matter a lot. And if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak.
It takes a completely different approach to get a lot of people to take action than it does to take action myself. If I want other people to change their lives, I need to convince them to do it, or force them to do it, or come up with great new technology that allows them to do it while making their lives better, or something like that. If I want to change my own life, I need to buy different stuff, use different stuff, eat different stuff, etc. The two are essentially unrelated.
You're right, I don't care enough to change my behavior. That's because the effort/reward ratio is completely busted. The reward is indistinguishable from zero, so I'd need to care an essentially infinite amount.
You either care enough to change your behavior or you don't. Don't pass your lack of courage of conviction off onto nameless "...politicians, business leaders or [those] high up in a relevant regulatory agency."