Anthony Agueda, a third‑generation farmer in California, pulls a rake through a bed of dark wood chips and uncovers a swarm of red earthworms. The worms, part of a vermifiltration system, filter manure wastewater and can slash methane, nitrous oxide and water pollutants from dairy operations.

Solar geoengineering moves past computer models into real‑world design. Researchers are now prototyping aircraft and novel materials that could reflect sunlight, but early deployment requires massive new infrastructure, significant time, and deep investment.

The worm approach offers a low‑cost, scalable tool for farms that can tighten emissions without new chemical inputs. In contrast, geoengineering showcases the sheer scale of resources needed to alter the climate system, turning a theoretical idea into a logistics problem. Both cases underline how engineered biological or material solutions can address climate pressures, yet they also expose the limits of technology when interfacing with complex ecosystems.

MIT Technology Review’s narrated edition, led by James Temple, frames these developments as part of a broader push to quantify and manage environmental impacts of human activity.