Is terraforming even a thing outside of the realm of SF? I can't say I've ever seen it depicted as anything but positive, since it's taking unlivable planets and making them livable.
as far as being a thing outside of SF, there are lots of studies on the idea of being able to do it in one way or another to both the moon and Mars, with real life validation efforts here on Earth -- but no real practical efforts as far as I know.
p.s. the reason I avoid mentioning our efforts here on Earth changing the climate being akin to terraforming is that I think that intentionality is really the defining feature of terraforming that differentiates it from pollution or abuse otherwise.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plan_for_the_Transform...
I'd argue your "in a few years" was like 2018 or 2019 or so.
Terraforming is a sci-fi concept for making planets viable for life......
What's the other usage?