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 Nicole Weyandt It’s been just under two years of us living in the strange and isolating situation of the pandemic, removed from what was once ‘normal’. Just as our social worlds are opening up and we are reconnecting with our loved ones, the leaves and flowers are also opening
By Jonathon Howard Dear Santa Although I am in my fifties, this is my first letter to you. You see I normally don’t ask for anything at Christmas. I think it is because part of me believes I am on your ‘naughty list’. But this letter is not about me.
By Karen Bowley, WATCH and Wooragee Landcare member It is great that we can spend Christmas with family and/or friends again. But does that mean your Christmas will be exactly the same as before COVID? Will we buy the same kinds of gifts and food for our festive feast? I would
By Ian Davidson and Chris Tzaros – Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability When winter moves to spring one of the birds that becomes increasingly visible locally is the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. This large slender cuckoo with its repeated, sad-sounding descending trill is one of the most distinctive sounds of the Australian bush.
By Kirsten Coates A generation ago, our public service campaigns were about “Slip, Slop, Slap”, “Keep Australia Beautiful” and “Life. Be in it”. Looking back nostalgically at this time is like comfort food; simple, palatable and easy to digest. How much more difficult is it now to consume the messages
By Jonathon Howard The river is important to most of us. We use its water for drinking, washing, growing food, and even for recreation. No wonder determining how we share this resource is a key environmental challenge for the basin community. The NSW Parliament is currently conducting hearings into Floodplain
By David Thurley The Roman philosopher Cicero once said “If you have a library and a garden you have everything you need.” Gardens mean so many things to different people and that may vary from time to time. Our native garden changes with the seasons as the various native trees
By Jonathon Howard It’s a dark moonless night and a male moth is out searching the neighbourhood. Although its dark, the moth does not need his eyes for this search. He uses his antenna. He picks up a scent. It’s a girl. He immediately turns towards the scent and flies
By Liz Hammond I’m retired, a grandmother, and I worry about our future on a warming planet. I’m a sometimes member of the local branch of climate action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) and for the past four years I’ve been a member of Albury Wodonga Knitting Nannas for Renewables. XR
By Alan Hewett How often have you taken something to be repaired and been told it’s cheaper to buy a replacement than fix it? We have an Australian made vacuum cleaner that is over fifty years old. Sure, it’s a bit heavy to drag around but it does its job,
By Bruce Key, member of Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) It is common to hear wind turbines described as blots on the landscape. In addition, solar farms are often criticised for taking up large areas of agricultural land, implying that the land is taken out of production. These criticisms
By Anne Stelling, Parklands Albury Wodonga The presence of bats tells much about the health of the environment. Where there are bats, there is bounty! Where there are microbats, there are plenty of insects. Microbats are primary predators of night-flying insects, using a sonar system of echolocation to navigate precisely
