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 Graham Parton In the winter months who doesn’t like a nice warm fire to warm the house up. Unfortunately, this may be something we should be giving up if we want to preserve native species such as koalas and gliders. The main driver for species extinctions in Australia is
By Ian Davidson and Chris Tzaros – Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability Quite a few species of birds occurring throughout the north-east region feature conspicuous black and white plumage. This includes many common and familiar species such as the Willie Wagtail, Magpie-lark and of course the Australian Magpie, but one black
By Jonathon Howard As we emerge from isolation during the Covid pandemic, now is a good time to exercise both your body and soul. Something that might take your fancy is ‘Forest bathing”. The concept of forest bathing emerged in Japan in the 1980s as a physiological and psychological exercise
By Bruce Key, member of Wodonga Albury Toward Climate Health (WATCH) Saul Griffith is an Australian inventor, entrepreneur, engineer and author of a number of books aimed at reducing emissions so that the earth remains liveable. His most recent book is The Big Switch which describes the wonderful assets that Australia
By Jonathon Howard There is increasing interest in ‘regenerative’ agriculture. It is a system of farming that promotes a reduction in external inputs, such as chemicals and synthetic fertilisers, and focuses on ‘regenerating’ the natural assets on the farm. In doing so there is evidence to suggest the approach reduces
By Lizette Salmon, Wodonga Albury Toward Climate Health (WATCH) Philip Sutton may not be the household name that Greta Thunberg is, but the outpouring of tributes since his recent death are testament to his profound impact on the climate movement. For me it began when Philip co-authored ‘Climate Code Red’
By Sue Brunskill I sit at my computer near a large glass window, looking out on a red salvia that has been flowering for many months. I have been seeing many interesting nature interactions – and we are supposed to look away from the computer regularly aren’t we! While I
By Alan Hewett Walking through our local parks we will often catch a glimpse of our native wildlife. However, on a recent a recent wet Saturday morning I was surprised to see a Satin Bowerbird. I watched for ten minutes as the glossy blue-black male hopped around accumulating various blue
By Lauriston Muirhead If you think tipping points relate to the etiquette of how to politely pay a gratuity at a restaurant, then this may not be for you! For the purpose of this article, the tipping points referred to here are in relation to climate change. The term usually
By Ian Davidson and Chris Tzaros – Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability The River Red Gum is the most significant and distinctive plant in our district where it dominates our waterway banks and wetlands. The trees usually range from 20–35 m high and taller. Locally, we are lucky to have many
By Geoff Williams, Australian Platypus Conservancy A juvenile platypus typically emerges from its nesting burrow in mid-summer when it’s around 3-4 months old. They then face a steep learning curve if they are to survive, as their mothers will continue to provide milk for only a few weeks before they
By Jonathon Howard I think mussels should be given an award. Afterall, mussels are amazing biofilters, they play a crucial role in keeping rivers healthy, and are an important part of the food web of our inland fisheries. Yet mussels are dying in the thousands, each mass death event brings
