January is a rubbish month. February is marginally better, but only by dint of it being marginally shorter. This year has been particularly tough. The days seem to have been uncharacteristically short, the Met Office predicts the coldest winter months in well over a decade and everyone is highly fed up of hearing those dreaded two Cs. Not the climate ones, the fiscal ones.

All of which, I have discovered, is conducive to a massive bout of eco-apathy. I have found myself so overwhelmed and, dare I say it, bored by the environment this past month that I’ve even considered changing career.

There must be another job out there which includes such liberal amounts of chatting with interesting people, opinion giving, tea drinking. and less of the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh style terror, please.

Therapist Cher Robins says feeling apathetic about the environment is not at all surprising. “It is about overexposure. In the face of a barrage of doom and gloom on the credit crunch or the fate of some soon- to-be-extinct fungus in Finland, we often feel there is too much to do, so where do we start? Or that nothing seems to change anyway, so why bother? Or my actions are too small to have an effect anyway.”

Environmental journalist Matt Chittock agrees, saying with the recent flu epidemic, freezing weather and economic gloom in the headlines, this past month feels much worse than previous years. “Unfortunately, with people worrying about their jobs and mortgages, as well as dealing with the winter blues, green issues can be low on the agenda,” says Matt.

Eco-apathy is a curious phenomenon. For me, it comes in fits and bursts, as and when I’ve had my fill of emails from my digital stalker telling me to get off the climate change gravy train, and fielding the extraordinary number of calls I receive about recycling. (Note: I’m very sorry, but I do not work for City Clean and I can’t do much about your weekly collections, or lack thereof.) For many others, it is a permanent state of being. We all know about climate change but in the real world, where for most of us just getting through the week is an absolute miracle, who has the time or energy to think about saving the planet?

“People feel insignificant,” says Cher. “They put themselves against the problem and think, ‘I’m tiny, what can I do?’ It leads to apathy. There is so much to focus on – your rubbish, your light bulbs, what carpet you use in your house – and people think, ‘Oh my God, so many decisions. I can’t make them all’.”

On a very basic level, we are suffering from information overload. One statistic (albeit of slightly dubious provenance) suggests there is more information in a week’s worth of the New York Times than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.

Cher adds that we tend to compare ourselves to other people. So we might see someone else being successful with their recycling and feel we should be able to do that as well, but fail to see they are driving a 4x4 two miles to work every day.

“We see all the information other people are processing and feel we should be able to do it, but we don’t see they are only processing their little bit,” explains Cher. “We think we should be seeing and doing everything, but we shouldn’t.”

For those in deep denial – not those with interesting, science-based arguments, but with the more spurious variety, such as the planet is too big for us to affect it, or winter is cold so there can’t be any warming – it is to do with fear and a need to prioritise the here and now.

By taking the decision to ignore the whole thing, all subsequent decisions about light bulbs and public transport v car use disappear.

But, according to Cher, there is a more dangerous modern affliction than the fear of change.

“Making eco decisions has now become a process of guilt. Every choice we make has some negative emotion attached, as though you, as an individual, are responsible for ruining the planet. No wonder people are saying ‘sod it’ and doing nothing.

“We are not individually responsible for the state of the planet. But people aren’t focusing on having a more beautiful world, they are focusing on an apocalyptic future and trying to run away from it.”

I like the idea of a beautiful planet. I’m much less keen on running away from the apocalypse, so I decide to follow Cher’s simple four-step survival guide:

1. Admit you can’t do everything.

2. Decide what is a key priority for you.

3. Choose what you can do.

4. Let the rest go.

I gloss over number one, because, of course, I can do everything.

I decide today’s priorities are going to include ignoring the digital stalker and radically reducing the number of conversations I have about recycling.

I do the ignoring. I make a quite public statement explaining I don’t work for City Clean, and therefore probably can’t answer your recycling questions, and apologise for that because I really would like to help.

And that’s it, nothing else to worry about right now. It feels good. I realise I don’t have to do everything all the time. I’m probably so fed up precisely because I feel I should be doing everything. I decide I probably can't save the world today, but maybe tomorrow I'll give it another try.

Top tips for overcoming the green funk

Take a break

Cher Robins says: “If we want to truly live in harmony with the planet, take a leaf out of Mother Nature’s book and allow a natural cycle of change and renewal in order for the green shots of spring to push forth.

“Resisting this cycle feeds apathy, as we are constantly living against a natural flow, which takes focus, energy and stamina away from the things we really want to be focusing on.”

Look ahead

What do you want the world to look like in the future? Think about what is likely to happen in one, five, ten, 20 and 50 years time, if we keep up our current rate of environmental degradation. Is that the sort of life you want? What would you want to be different? How can you make sure that happens?

Go green together

Matt Chittock says: “Whether you want to recycle more of your waste or simply stop buying from supermarkets, try to get your friends to make a pledge with you. That way, you can motivate each other to succeed in your goals when apathy looks likely to strike.”

Be nice to yourself

“Everyone hates a smug greeny,” says Matt. “But pat yourself on the back every now and then and remember you are part of a positive change that will benefit countless generations to come. “How cool is that?”

Get angry

Matt says: “Putting ‘climate change deniers’ into Google should generate enough righteous ire to get you back on track.”

Distance yourself

Being too close to the situation can cause indecision and inaction. Cher says: “Surveying a range of third party viewpoints is a common way to tackle being too involved.”

Remember it’s not your fault

Because it isn’t.

Remember you are in good company

There is no need for you to be a lone warrior when there are so many community and action groups in the city full of others all working towards the same goal. There is probably an ecological community network for your suburb.

Break it down

You can’t save the world this afternoon, but you can write a list of things that are important to you. Then work out, step by step, each thing that needs to be done to achieve your goal, whether it is remembering to take the recycling out, or protesting about the third runway at Heathrow. Tick off each bit as you go and keep a record of how much you have done.

Prioritise

You can’t do everything, so pick the things you can do and put them top of your list. Chuck the rest of the list away, because if you can’t do it, then it doesn’t matter. Out of 6.5 billion people, someone else is probably on the case.