Living Lightly is a collection of local stories about sustainable living.
The column commenced in 2012 and until 2023 was published in the Border Mail newspaper each week.
The content is community sourced – groups, organisations and individuals have written and contributed each of these informative and entertaining articles – all overseen by a local volunteer coordinator.
We are currently considering a monthly schedule for articles, stay tuned as we explore this option.
Here you can browse and search previous articles or subscribe to receive an email each time an article is published.
The Living Lightly coordinator is always keen to receive articles! Use the link below to find out how you can submit an article for the column.
With a big thank you to all the Living Lightly authors for contributing to this wonderful collection of articles.
By Alan Hewett What is the single oldest living thing on Earth? Until recently it was a Great Basin bristlecone pine in California called, appropriately, Methuselah. It’s age? 4,853 years old. Amazing as that sounds a tree recently discovered in Chile called Gran Abuelo (great-grandfather), is estimated to be 5,484
By Anne Stelling, Parklands Albury Wodonga It’s frog season and anyone walking in the parks will be well aware – in some places the evening chorus can be almost deafening! Hearing their combined calls, I find myself listening for one in particular – the big, intermittent ‘gulp’ call of the
By Alan Hewitt If you have driven along the Great River Road near Tintaldra or walked along the Yindymarra trail and the recently opened Crossing trail you will have seen the various sculptures celebrating the Bogong moth. But what was the importance of the moth to indigenous people? For millennia
By Chris McGorlick It’s little wonder to me that so many writers find success, fame or resonance when using their garden as muse or subject. Gardening is literally the act of coaxing life to flourish, so naturally it follows that it should also represent ‘fertile ground’ for euphemism and metaphor
By Bruce Key – member of Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) One of the challenges of a modern society is how to dispose of waste. A particular concern that people often draw to my attention is the massive amount of waste that will come from solar panels when they
By Karen Retra, Wodonga Urban Landcare Network Have you heard of the Sloane’s froglet? It’s a tiny, local, endangered frog. They are around 2cm long and grey-olive in colour. Male frogs call to advertise to potential mates and to warn off other male frogs. Frog calls are distinctive, so hearing them
By Olivia Brozecki As a first generation Australian, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise my olive-skin is read as ‘white’ in every way that matters. I’ve never been refused a job due to the colour of my skin. I’ve never had someone grip their handbag tightly upon
By Alan Hewett The plans of the Victorian government to proceed with shooting brumbies in the Alpine National Park has seen another outbreak of protest. Culling any animal species is an emotional issue, especially if they are native, but brumbies are an introduced species so why the outrage? In October
By Kirsten Coates On my nature strip stands a 160 year old tree. I often wonder what this tree has seen, who lives in it and what will become of it. As it is an English Oak tree, I know it has only been here since European settlement and I
By Jonathon Howard Can animals be married? According to the dictionary marriage is a ‘legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship’. There is no such thing as ‘legal recognition’ for animals, but we can recognise when two individuals have close lifelong partnerships. Shingleback
By Debbie Rodda There are three main reasons why people like to keep bees. One is to pollinate their fruit trees and vegie gardens. Another is to “save the bees”. A third reason is to provide honey for family and friends. To my thinking, the honey bee (Apis mellifera) doesn’t
By Karen Retra, Wodonga Urban Landcare Network Winter has never been my favourite time of year. I ‘feel the cold’, as they say. The shorter daylight hours feel constrained compared to when they extend into the evening. Previously, my approach to winter was perhaps like animals that hibernate or avoid
