If “geoingencing” designates, in its broadest sense, any large -scale human intervention aimed at delaying warming or degradation of ecosystems, then the simple fact of planting trees on a large scale could be designated as geting. But in reality, which we have been referring for more than 15 years, these are highly controversial ideas such as the sending of millions of tons of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere to slightly limit the quantity of solar rays that reach the earth – and therefore, delay warming – or as the discharge of enormous amounts of minerals in the oceans to increase their pH, which To absorb the carbon that we send into the atmosphere.
These ideas have always been swept away from the back of the hand and the few entrepreneurs who tried small -scale experiences were strongly criticized. But these ideas are less “taboo” than before, recently summed up the New Scientist.
For example, the American geophysical union (AGU) is owed the publication, in October 2024, of a “guide to ethical principles” for scientists who would decide to venture on this ground. A guide that served as an introduction to an AGU panel organized as part of its congress last December.
The discussion generated more questions than answers, it was noted at that time. “The more we do research on these things, the more we discover how complex they are,” declared the expert in studies of the atmosphere and the oceans Sarah Doherty, of the University of Washington.
But there is at least recognition of the need to do research, “as we recognize, among scientists, that we are not going in the right direction with regard to the targets” of greenhouse gases, now declares Janice Lachance, Director General of the AGU. And in the meantime, small initiatives appeared, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States.
It is not only how these experiences would be carried out that worries, but by whom. If large-scale experience had harmful impacts, they would be more harshly felt by countries with low incomes, particularly those which are closer to the equator-we think for example of disturbances of the monsoon cycle, which brings the rainy season. However, in 2024 underlined researchers from Pakistan and Nigeria, very little research in geory engineering has so far been carried out by teams from the countries of the South.
