[X-Posted from Reddit - /u/laughingwater77] - What ( if any) realistic yet hopeful speculative fiction is there?

What if any realistic yet hopeful speculative fiction is there (or is my question an oxymoron?)?

I am tired of the dystopian genre and our cynical, disintegrating culture and want to read some quality speculative fiction that helps me feel hopeful about humanity and our possibly viable future.

Granted, it's difficult enough to write about the process of creating a utopian society, but it's even more difficult to envision how we might realistically get from here to.........a better world with policies that help renegerate the planet. ....and people who care about each other and humanity as a whole.

And is it too much to ask for three-dimensional characters too, who are learning how to relate humanely and communicate sensitively?

We probably would need some highly evolved alien to help us, at which point, we are probably far from realism.....but maybe still in the realm of possibility.