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Episode details

Radio 4,02 Feb 2024,53 mins

Can We Build a Better World with Wood?

Rare Earth

Available for over a year

From the emotional balm of a walk in the woods to the first wooden skyscrapers, Tom Heap and Helen Czerski ask if we can replace a world of concrete and steel with a wooden utopia. Will the Wood Age be healthier for us and for the planet? Michael Ramage of Cambridge University explains how the development of Cross-Laminated Timber makes it possible to build pretty much any building with wood while Tim Searchinger of Princeton University argues that turning forests into construction material has a high carbon cost for the planet. Produced by Alasdair Cross for BBC Audio Wales and West in conjunction with the Open University

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