Ross: A climate change compromise President Trump would agree to

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blames recent wildfires on global warming, while President Trump blames it on poor forest management. But what if they’re both right?

What if there was a solution that involved removing wide swaths of timber to prevent fires – which the president wants – and then using that wood to cut carbon emissions?

In California on Monday, the president mentioned that Scandinavian countries carefully manage their forests – which they do – but when I looked it up, I found that they’re also trying something else: wooden skyscrapers.

Yes – wooden skyscrapers! Using new wood laminates as strong and as fireproof as steel, the hope is that the design will keep carbon out of the atmosphere, because that’s what wood does.

“One study showed that using wood to construct a 125-meter skyscraper could reduce the building’s carbon footprint by up to 75%,” one economist estimates.

In fact, Norway already has an 18-story wood skyscraper, and there are plans for a 70-story version in Tokyo.

So, the answer looks clear to me – go ahead and clear those firebreaks to make Trump happy, and use all that wood to trap the carbon forever in wooden skyscrapers. Heck, I bet IKEA could snap one together in an afternoon.

Earth saved.

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