Building future cities out of timber could save 100B tons of CO2 emissions
&gt; if at least 90 percent of the world’s new urban population is housed in buildings made from wood<p>I put this in the category of my favorite joke with regards to physics in the classroom vs. real-world physics.  It goes something like this:<p>&quot;Assume a cow is a uniform sphere of milk, one meter in diameter&quot;<p>Anyone who has studied physics to a reasonable depth understands the great disparity between the &quot;assume...&quot; constraints of classroom teaching (which are necessary to be able to learn) and what happens with real-world problems.<p>This is at that level.  At least NINETY PERCENT?  C&#x27;mon.  I thought Disney was where fantasies are made for entertainment, not in scientific research.<p>We&#x27;ve just experienced several very large fires in California.  Just one of these probably emits more CO2 than all internal combustion vehicles in the state in a day.  I remember reading vegetation fires in California, in one year, emit the equivalent of 25% of the CO2 emitted by the entire transportation sector in the state during the same year.  In other words, if internal combustion engine cars went away tomorrow, we would still produce so much CO2 from fires it would almost be pointless.<p>Now add to this the additional fires we would have to contend with if we plant millions&#x2F;billions of trees.  The fires would be larger and likely more frequent.  They would probably destroy more property and wild life.  And now, add to this entire cities built out of timber, rather than concrete.  In other words, in a sense, storing the CO2 containing wood in a structure full of electrical wiring, gas lines, and other fire hazards.<p>Yes, that would be intelligent.  Instead of creating <i>less</i> fire danger, increase it.  Exponentially.<p>Like a I said, assume a cow is a uniform sphere of milk one meter in diameter and everything is possible.<p>EDIT:<p>The irony, of course, is that massive reforestation around the world is likely the only realistic way to capture CO2 at scale.