Is it true that, "nobody cares!"?

Yesterday I had a very upsetting conversation with someone about why the schools around mine don't recycle (not that mine is perfect either).  According to her it was because, "nobody cares!"  She went on to say that the fact that I do would ultimately lead to me, "killing myself!"  I'm not sure if she meant literally or metaphorically.  I do feel like I'm killing myself sometimes.  Why do I do this?  Why do I care, especially if it's true that nobody else does?  Is it really true that nobody cares?  I feel like through my organizing efforts I'm trying to seek out the people who like me are "killing" ourselves caring too much or maybe you have found a balance so you aren't killing yourself and are positively affecting change around you.  My belief is it is not that people don't care it's that they are ignorant.  This is the same reason people are racist or sexist, right?  It's all due to ignorance.  It's the job of educators to educate people and then they will care.  So this is an email to request some support.  Why should I continue to care?  Why shouldn't I give up?  Why should I spend my time on issues that supposedly "nobody cares" about?  Why do you care? 

I care because I think of the children who will grow up in a world uninhabitable, depicted in movies like Wall-E and Idiocracy because they are so trashed.  I think of kids eating off of Styrofoam trays who figure, well the adults who designed things like this must have a plan, they must have it all figured out, right?  They are doing the best to take care of the world so I can grow up and enjoy it and continue to live a healthy lifestyle.  But I feel stuck.  I have lists of movies and resources, but I don't know how to use them to teach people to care.  My emails feel like they fall on deaf ears or even aren't read.  Can you reach out and tell me why you care?  I want to live in a world where people care because together I do believe we can make a difference... not me alone, but in cooperation with others who care.  To me it sends a message when people take disposable cups for their coffee that they just don't care about anything but their instant gratification or they are just ignorant.  How can we inform them in a way that they will listen, learn, and care?