The Belief in Survival

Yesterday lunch a colleague of mine said he didn't really care about the environmental changes we have seen more and more obvious signs of lately. The reason was he said, that it's already too late to do anything about it. Although I fear he might be right, could it really be common that people have that opinion? This particular person does not have children, which might be a reason to not care about what happens after your own life. I certainly care and I have children.