Cosmic Enframing and Atmospheric Capitalism: Toward a Critical Epistemology of Geoengineering and Climate Biopolitics in the Arab Zone of Risk - Preprint

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nadji-Belkheiri/publication/406237587_Cosmic_Enframing_and_Atmospheric_Capitalism_Toward_a_Critical_Epistemology_of_Geoengineering_and_Climate_Biopolitics_in_the_Arab_Zone_of_Risk/links/6a24be2383a9957d732bb672/Cosmic-Enframing-and-Atmospheric-Capitalism-Toward-a-Critical-Epistemology-of-Geoengineering-and-Climate-Biopolitics-in-the-Arab-Zone-of-Risk.pdf

Authors: Nadji Belkheiri

Abstract 

This article examines the philosophical, political, and scientific dimensions of geoengineering technologies, particularly Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), and Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF). It argues that these technologies do not merely represent technical solutions to the climate crisis but carry within their structure the risk of reproducing global patterns of inequality, creating new forms of technological sovereignty, and transforming the atmosphere into a" standing-reserve" amenable to commodification and management by a technocratic elite in the Global North. Drawing on Heidegger (enframing), Simondon (associated milieu and points of indetermination), Foucault (biopolitics), Agamben (bare life), and Mbembe (necropolitics), the article develops the concept of cosmic enframing to describe the extension of technical power to encompass the ambient conditions of life. It introduces three analytical concepts–atmospheric capitalism, cosmic biopolitics, and bare atmospheric life–operationalized for critical analysis, and proposes the notion of ecological sacrifice zones as a framework for understanding the disproportionate vulnerability of the Middle East and North Africa. The article concludes by discussing alternatives for democratic governance: atmospheric commons, cosmic dynamic consent, and regional resistance strategies. Its originality lies in developing new philosophical concepts in the context of the climate challenge while maintaining a rigorous distinction between structural risk and political intention and avoiding methodological confusions.

Source: ResearchGate