THERE’S one life form that’s much better than us greedy, selfish, fossil fuel guzzling human beings in sorting out the problems caused by too much CO2, but it’s a bit wooden. It’s a tree and there aren’t enough of them about.

As we are not inclined to give up fast cars, overheated homes and flying for foreign holidays we will need to find a way of capturing the excess CO2 that doesn’t involve the use of extra energy, and the answer is timber.

We need to remember that coal was made from the carbon in trees, and that they contain over 750 kilos of carbon per cubic metre, all the result of taking about three tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

So more trees are the answer, worldwide and in the UK, and the Forest of Bradford is more than doing its bit locally. It aims to increase the woodland cover in our district by at least one million trees by 2020, covering about 1,300 acres, and they are now well past half way.

However it shouldn’t be left just to local volunteer charities, and councils and central government should invest heavily in tree planting, particularly on the sheep cropped hill tops if they are serious about reducing flooding.

We need to re-think the nonsense of growing seven million Christmas trees, cutting them down and then burning or chipping them a few weeks later. That’s no way to treat a CO2 trap.

The floorboards, roof beams, door frames, stairs and skirting boards in my house have been storing CO2 taken out of the air by the wood they are made from for over a century, and they are still in good shape.

From now on every new house should be made from timber, prefabricated off site, to be energy efficient and storing CO2. Planners please take note.