This is of course untrue, given that we know that there are people who have changed their behaviour after learning about realities through articles such as this one. And a huge percentage of people still haven't learned about them. In one's highly-educated HN-reading savvy bubble, it might be easy to assume that surely by now everyone knows the realities, has seen all of them, and if they behave a certain way it's simply due to the degree to which they care.

I've been prone to such biases myself, but the truth is very different. Billions of people, including hundreds of millions in wealthy regions, still simply do not know about this. They genuinely do not know that e.g. plastic recycling is a fantasy. They have not seen these images. Of course, many have and just don't care as long as their streets are pristine - the people you're talking about very much exist. But there's even more people who are simply unaware.

It's very easy to take a nihilist view that nothing matters, as it completely absolves oneself of any potential responsibility whatsoever. But it doesn't reflect reality.