I am an environmental geologist and I do not have good news for you. I am also an eternal pessimist, and the two do not mix well. What I’ve personally found is that avoiding the news helps tremendously, especially when it comes to topics I have virtually no control over. It’s not just burying my head in the sand, the news didn’t used to be formatted to polarize you and force feed you fear by the bucketful like it is now. It’s better for my own mental health to focus on my inner sphere, the things I can affect and have some control over. I follow my local news to a degree, I stay up on the things that impact the work I do, but otherwise I do anything and everything I can to avoid the news and I legitimately sleep better for it. I also try to impact things that will make a tangible difference to real people in my area. Think of it this way - if what you think is true (it’s not that bad but it’s still not good) then you and I have no way of controlling if the planet kills us and everyone else in fifty years. But what we can control is if something we do makes a difference to our neighbor. We can something that puts a smile on a friends face, or helps someone we love (or maybe we don’t even know) have a better day. Those are active choices we can make and have control over.

Not saying it’s for everyone, but that’s what I’ve found helps me the most.