It was not for the carbon to build their clever machines out of

"... It was not for the carbon to build their clever machines out of; no, it was to pull out the stored past energy of the sun ..." (From Ch.1 of "The Novelway Prototype Shop"
http://www.escalatorhi.com/techscifi/thenovelwayprototypeshop.html )
Referring to this opening chapter in my sci fi story involving redwood trees, in our current awakening awareness of the effects of civilization's "carbon footprint," there may be found an avenue to explore purposely, that of the use of carbon from which to build things.

Common plants are incredible creatures that seem to easily build things out of carbon and water, powered merely by solar energy. Since the "carbon" problem in the air is that bound as CO2 (and to CH4), and the plants also free up oxygen to repopulate the breathing air, in their activity of using the carbon part of CO2 for their busy construction jobs. Maybe we might do well to consult with the plant creatures as to possible ways for mankind to build plant-like things of interest, and surely we could find all kinds of things we could build for civilization, many quite different from the structures plants build, because plants have focused on such things as growing vertically as fast as possible to grab sunshine before possibly being overshadowed by neighbor's growth. Sure, plants could show us how to make such things as long tubes, such as are made by bamboo; or to be shaped as in Bonsai, using existing plants to grow into assisted shapes for our utility uses. Such bonsai techniques have long been suggested for shaping the growth of houses; sure, it would take decades for the first one, but in the meantime next ones could be started and after about 20 years would be quite a sustaining business.

But the main thought here is less of enslaving plants to do our construction work, but to mimic the plants basic functions, that of using solar energy, water and carbon dioxide, and some trace minerals and other organic waste materials sometimes, to build things of use. How about building freeway crash barriers that way, instead of using energy-wasteful concrete, by making a tensile-linked structure that binds up other materials to provide inertial mass and fire resistance along with shock absorbing resilience. And making detailed strong house panels prefabricated not quite by having plants bent to grow into the desired shapes and functions, but to use plant-like techniques to build them, preferably where there is lots of time and solar power, to then be hauled to the assembly sites from there and fastened together to form the walls and floors and ceilings and roofs of people's homes and offices. Possibly plant-like or plant-assisted binding mechanisms could be used to secure the panels together, too.

Aircraft have been built out of wood, some fighter aircraft in WWII, and Howard Huges' "Spruce Goose" huge seaplane, for example, when aluminum was scarce; perhaps our carbon-sequestering construction processes could be computer-directed to "grow" unitized aircraft wings and fuselages. While we are at it, for similar construction techniques for automobile bodies, for bus and railway car unitized construction processes too. Of course, tables, chairs, desks too, all using carbon as their main structural constituent, coming from the CO2 out of the air, and also in places more efficiently right from the exhaust of hydrocarbon-fueled powerplants.

Engineering and chemistry could find huge new fields of endeavor this way, new fields of study and R&D, including fresh looks at how our old companions, those diverse creatures of the plant kingdom, do their thing. There, engineering design might indeed find many fresh new ways to build old things and find new kinds of things to build that were never before possible; all the while, sequestering carbon away from harming the world atmosphere.