geoengineering

English

Etymology

geo- +‎ engineering

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

geoengineering (uncountable)

1. (engineering, mining) The subfield of engineering concerned with designing and constructing tunnels, mines, and other human-designed geologic structures within and on earth.
2. The artificial manipulation of the environments of the Earth, especially as a means of counteracting global warming.
   • 1991 May 20, Sharon Begley, “On the Wings of Icarus”, in Newsweek, page 42:

     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.”

   • 2007 November 1, Jeff Goodell, “James Lovelock, the Prophet”, in Rolling Stone‎^[1]:

     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.

   • 2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN:

     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.

Synonyms

• planetary engineering

Translations

subfield of engineering

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: geotekniikka (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can

manipulation of environments

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: geo-engineering (nl) n
• Finnish: ilmastonmuokkaus
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Geoengineering (de) n
• Hungarian: geomérnökség
• Icelandic: loftslagsverkfræði n
• Irish: geo-innealtóireacht f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} geo-innealtóireacht f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} geoingegneria (it)

See also

• terraforming