I unserstand your concerns about the expression. "Every action counts" is a means of reducing the rate of CO2 emissions rather than a solution to the general problem. However, reducing individual impact is a meaningful way for any individual to behave since meaningful aggregate effects are by definition the accumulation of small, less significant component effects. 

To addresss your broader concerns about solving the problem, industry does require a large amount of energy to produce the outputs we require from it, such as the fertilizer and food prodution you mentioned. There is work being performed on no-carbon enery generation technologies that may offer the economic, safety, and scalability imperatives required for widespread medium-term adoption. Examples of such work being performed include: 
- Molten Salt Reactor Research: these are low pressure, small, load-following, low waste, and high energy output nuclear reactors. These reactors are capable of running on a broader range of elemental fuels than today's reactors. The Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee constructed and successfully ran a molten salt reactor for research purposes for several years, and several countries are funding current research into these reactors.
- Fast Reactor Research: these are low pressure, closed-system, high-energy output reactors that can also run on various elemental fuels, as well as on the waste that has been produced and stored from past and current nuclear power plants. The Gates Foundation is funding the construction of a proof-of-concept reactor of this type in Kemmerer Wyoming.
- Confined Plasma Fusion Research: these are fusion reactors that use powerful magnets to confine very hot plasmas that fuse to produce energy. The complexity of these reactors means they likely require a longer timeframe possibility for power generation, but they also currently receive significant funding from various countries. The ITER Tokamak, an international cooperation megaproject to construct a large confined plasma reactor is Europe is one such example. 

Ultimately, solving the general problem of CO2 emissions requires that individuals understand, support, and work collectively to make practical and incremental progress toward a portfolio of solutions, as well as to avoid feelings of defeatism. Humans are good at solving problems. While this particular problem is larger and harder to solve than many others, the efforts of individuals are always the component parts of a solution.
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