geoengineering
nounEtymology From geo- + engineering.
1
Business, Engineering, Mining, Natural sciences, Physical sciences The subfield of engineering concerned with designing and constructing tunnels, mines, and other human-designed geologic structures within and on earth.
- “You could say it's one of the first geoengineering projects ever,” says [Carlo] Ratti of the patchwork of land-spattered lagoon that human ingenuity formed into a city, as we settle on the terrace of the Hotel Monaco with an espresso. “This wasn't meant for human living.”2025 April 26, Caroline Roux, “The age of adaption”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC:
2
The artificial manipulation of the environments of a planet, especially Earth, especially as a means of counteracting global warming.
- Near-synonyms: planetary engineering, terraforming
- Although the panel does not support even pilot programs, it calls geoengineering “technically feasible in terms of cooling effects and costs” and says it has “the potential to affect greenhouse warming on a substantial scale.”1991 May 20, Sharon Begley, “On the Wings of Icarus”, in Newsweek, page 42:
2 more examples
- Although he views large-scale geoengineering as an act of profound hubris[…]he thinks it may be necessary as an emergency measure, much like kidney dialysis is necessary to a person whose health is failing.2007 November 1, Jeff Goodell, “James Lovelock, the Prophet”, in Rolling Stone:
- A scientist gets into geoengineering, they're not a scientist anymore, they're a politician. Get hate mail, rocks through window, no one takes their real work seriously, all that.2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN:
- Related terms
- Anthropocene, sozology