As for solar panels and green roofs … Landry was actually talking about city buildings. But one of his suggestions for “things we can do other than mining” was to become a centre for environmentally friendly technology, and widespread adoption of solar panels on houses would go a long way towards creating the right mindset.

You’re entirely right that a paradigm change is needed, that we need leaders with the guts to put their money where their mouth is and bring in subsidies (or similar) for eco-friendly measures. There are a few signs that we’re headed in the right direction, such as the State Government’s interest in BASIX for new houses, or the fact that many of the new buildings going up in the CBD are 4.5 stars on the official eco-friendliness scale (BTW, this one, which is five stars, got local government approval yesterday). But to get serious about environmentally-friendly buildings (or indeed any of the issues that Landry raised) we need much more ambitious measures that go far beyond these timid steps.

Also, Adelaide does have two roads to the south that they call freeways That said, it was supposed to be a good thing that those are well clear of their city centre (think Vancouver, or most of Europe) … except that they never really took advantage of it. In fact I think it was one of Landry’s recommendations that their planning should pay more heed to the fact that they don’t have freeways cutting up their city!

P.S. you know, those 130.95.* IPs really stand out in the logs …

But living in Doubleview, 3 minutes from Scarborough Beach – the old blue house on the hill was a real eyesore; it’s aforementioned technicolour replacement is not much better. I do understand the crowd reaction – “different” isn’t by default “artistic” or “cultural”. But – eye of the beholder I suppose…

Finally, I’m no treehugger by any stretch of the imagination (even though I’ve was admittedly slow to accept the evidence for global warming, I’m still a scientist at heart and I do pay attention when the evidence is convincing.) Yet I’d be onboard for putting a whole lot of solar panels on my roof and other similarly ecofriendly measures – if I could afford to get into the property market in the first place and then have “spare” money. Begs the question – do we need a paradigm change where ecofriendly construction is the default? Is it going to require “regime change” at state and/or federal levels for it to get on the radar? (There’s another topic for your to blog on about…)

[And yes Hourann, I do look at your blog ]