summary of After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration by Holly Jean Buck:

Holly Jean Buck’s After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration is a critical and forward-looking exploration of what happens after humanity begins large-scale interventions in the Earth’s climate system—interventions often grouped under the term “geoengineering.” Buck examines geoengineering not simply as a set of speculative technologies, such as solar radiation management or carbon dioxide removal, but as a deeply political and social question about how societies will adapt, govern, and imagine their futures in the wake of climate crises. She emphasizes that the conversation cannot stop at the technical feasibility of cooling the planet; it must grapple with the social, ethical, and ecological consequences that follow. The book situates geoengineering within the larger context of capitalism, colonial histories, and environmental justice, asking who will control such technologies, who will benefit, and who will bear the risks. Rather than dismissing geoengineering outright as dangerous hubris, Buck argues that we must realistically consider its potential role, since the scale of the climate crisis makes some form of intervention likely. Yet she insists that this “after” must be guided by principles of repair and restoration rather than simply stabilization of the climate for the benefit of the powerful. Drawing from case studies, political theory, and environmental humanities, Buck sketches pathways where climate interventions are embedded in broader projects of ecological healing, democratic participation, and global solidarity, rather than continuing extractivist and exploitative logics. She encourages readers to envision post-geoengineering futures that prioritize justice, care, and collective flourishing, making the book less a technical manual and more a manifesto for how humanity might responsibly navigate the fraught terrain of climate engineering. Ultimately, Buck challenges us to expand our moral and political imagination, to see geoengineering not just as a tragic necessity but as a potential opening for rethinking our relationship with the planet and with each other.