In the course of a single year, University of Maine climate scientist Jacquelyn Gill lost both her mother and her stepfather.

She struggled with infertility, then during research in the Arctic, she developed embolisms in both lungs, was transferred to an intensive care unit in Siberia and nearly died. She was airlifted back home and later had a hysterectomy. Then the pandemic hit.

Her trials and her perseverance, she said, seemed to make her a magnet for emails and direct messages on Twitter B次元官网网址渁sking me how to be hopeful, asking me, like, what keeps me going?B次元官网网址�

Gill said she has accepted the idea that she is B次元官网网址渆verybodyB次元官网网址檚 climate midwifeB次元官网网址� and coaches them to hope through action.

Hope and optimism often blossom in the experts toiling in the gloomy fields of and .

How climate scientists like Gill or emergency room doctors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic cope with their depressing day-to-day work, yet remain hopeful, can offer help to ordinary people dealing with a world going off the rails, psychologists said.

B次元官网网址淚 think itB次元官网网址檚 because they see a way out. They see that things can be done,B次元官网网址� said Pennsylvania State University psychology professor Janet Swim. B次元官网网址淗ope is seeing a pathway, even though the pathway seems far, far away.B次元官网网址�

United Nations Environment Programme Director Inger Andersen said she simply cannot do her job without being an optimist.

B次元官网网址淚 do not wish to sound naive in choosing to be the B次元官网网址榬ealistic optimist,B次元官网网址� but the alternative to being the realistic optimist is either to hold oneB次元官网网址檚 ears and wait for doomsday or to party while the orchestra of the Titanic plays,B次元官网网址� Andersen said. B次元官网网址淚 do not subscribe to either.B次元官网网址�

Dr. Kristina Goff works in the intensive care unit at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and said at times she during the pandemic. She keeps a file folder at home of B次元官网网址渓ittle notes that say B次元官网网址榟ey you made a difference.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 think half of the battle in my job is learning to take what could be a very overwhelming anxiety and turn it into productivity and resilience,B次元官网网址� Goff said. B次元官网网址淵ou just have to focus on these little areas where you can make a difference.B次元官网网址�

AlzheimerB次元官网网址檚 disease may be one of the bleakest diagnoses a physician can convey, one where the future can appear hopeless. Yet Dr. Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic AlzheimerB次元官网网址檚 research center and a man colleagues describe as optimistic and passionate, doesnB次元官网网址檛 see it that way.

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 think itB次元官网网址檚 depressing. I donB次元官网网址檛 think itB次元官网网址檚 gloomy. ItB次元官网网址檚 difficult. ItB次元官网网址檚 challenging,B次元官网网址� Petersen said. But B次元官网网址渨eB次元官网网址檙e so much better off today than five years ago, 10 years ago.B次元官网网址�

The coping technique these scientists have in common is doing something to help. The word they often use is B次元官网网址渁gency.B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 especially true for climate researchers B次元官网网址� tarred as doomsayers by political types who reject the science.

Gill, who describes herself as a lifelong cheerleader, has also battled with depression. She said whatB次元官网网址檚 key in fighting eco-anxiety is that B次元官网网址渞egular depression and regular anxiety tools work just as well. And so thatB次元官网网址檚 why I tell people: B次元官网网址楤e a doer. Get other there. DonB次元官网网址檛 just doomscroll.B次元官网网址� There are entry level ways that anyone, literally anyone, can help out. And the more we do that, B次元官网网址極h, it actually works,B次元官网网址� it turns out.B次元官网网址�

ItB次元官网网址檚 not just about individual actions, like giving up air travel, or becoming a vegetarian, itB次元官网网址檚 about working together with other people in a common effort, Gill said. Individual action is helpful on climate change, but is not enough, she said. To bend the curve of rising temperatures and the buildup of heat-trapping gases, steady collective action, such as the youth climate activism movement and voting, gives true agency.

B次元官网网址淚 think maybe thatB次元官网网址檚 helped stave off some of this hopelessness,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淚 go to a scientific meeting and I look around at the thousands of scientists that are working on this. And IB次元官网网址檓 like B次元官网网址榊eah, weB次元官网网址檙e doing this.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini said that, at 35, he figures itB次元官网网址檚 his relative youth that gives him hope.

B次元官网网址淲hen I think about would could be, I gain a sense of optimism and create an attitude that this is something I can do something about,B次元官网网址� Gensini said.

The U.N.B次元官网网址檚 Andersen is a veteran of decades of work on ecological issues and thinks this experience has made her optimistic.

B次元官网网址淚 have seen shifts on other critical environmental issues such as banning of toxic material, better air quality standards, the repair of the ozone hole, the phase-out of leaded petrol and much more,B次元官网网址� Andersen said. B次元官网网址淚 know that hard work, underpinned by science, underpinned by strong policy and yes, underpinned by multilateral and activist action, can lead to change.B次元官网网址�

Deke Arndt, chief of climate science and services at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationB次元官网网址檚 National Center for Environmental Information, said what buoys him with an overwhelming optimism is his personal faith, and remembering all the people who have helped his family over the generations B次元官网网址� through the Dust Bowl for his grandparents and through infertility and then neonatal issues for his son.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e experienced the miracle of hands-on care from fellow human beings,B次元官网网址� Arndt said. B次元官网网址淵ou kind of spend the rest of your life trying to repay.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淲here people are suffering not through their own purchase, that makes me want to recommit as a scientist and a Catholic,B次元官网网址� Arndt said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e got to do as much as we can.B次元官网网址�

WhatB次元官网网址檚 more, Gill and several others said, the

B次元官网网址淭he work that I do inherently lends me a sense of agency,B次元官网网址� Gill said. B次元官网网址淎s a paleo-ecologist (who studies the past) and climatologist, I have a better sense of EarthB次元官网网址檚 resilience than a lot of people do.B次元官网网址�

It helps that she studies glaciers. Even though they shrink, theyB次元官网网址檙e still there when she returns to visit them, so far. She pointed to Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb, who spent much of her career diving and studying the same coral reef in the Pacific, only to return in 2016 and find it dead: B次元官网网址淕od, I cannot imagine what a gut punch.B次元官网网址�

Cobb laughed heartily when she heard how Gill described the life of a reef scientist.

From 1997 to 2016, Cobb dived at one of the tiny islands of Kiritimati in the Pacific, monitoring the effects of climate change and El Nino on a delicate coral reef there. Super hot water , with only faint signs of life clinging on.

That fall, Cobb made one last trip. It was during the elections. A big Hillary Clinton fan, Cobb was wearing a Madame President shirt when she heard the news that Donald Trump was elected. She said fell into a pit of despair that lasted maybe a couple months.

B次元官网网址淎nd then on New YearB次元官网网址檚 Eve, I decided that I probably had enough and I know my husband had enough, my kids had had enough. So people needed their mother and their wife back,B次元官网网址� Cobb said. B次元官网网址淚 decided to grope for another path out there.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 am not able to wallow for so long before I start asking myself some questions like, B次元官网网址楲ook you know how you can put your position to work? How can you put your resources to work?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Cobb said.

She and her family emissions 80%. She doesnB次元官网网址檛 fly on planes anymore. She went vegan, composts, installed solar panels. She works on larger climate action instead of her more focused previous research. And she bikes everywhere, which she said is like mental health therapy.

She tells people when they are anxious about climate change, B次元官网网址渢hereB次元官网网址檚 not going to be a win, a shining moment where we can declare success,B次元官网网址� but B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 never going to be too late to act. ItB次元官网网址檚 never going to be too late to fix this.B次元官网网址�

NOAAB次元官网网址檚 Arndt said the climate of the 20th century he grew up with is gone forever. He grieves the loss of that, but also finds mourning whatB次元官网网址檚 gone B次元官网网址渨eirdly liberating.B次元官网网址�

With climate change B次元官网网址渨e have to kind of hold hope and grief at the same time, like theyB次元官网网址檙e kind of twins that weB次元官网网址檙e cradling,B次元官网网址� MaineB次元官网网址檚 Gill said. B次元官网网址淲e have to both understand and witness what has happened and what weB次元官网网址檝e lost. And then fiercely commit to protecting what remains. And I donB次元官网网址檛 think you can do that from a place of hopelessness.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擲eth Borenstein, The Associated Press