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 Joy Grinham Recently the Border Mail reported on the collection of REDcycle plastics, naming a Lavington supermarket as having the lowest collection rate of recyclable plastics in the state. Three Wodonga supermarkets were in the top third, and the Albury store recycled 693kg of soft plastics. Shoppers were commended
By Graham Parton Recently as an aspiring ethical shopper I faced a choice between two grapefruits on sale at the local food co-op. This is a magnet for the locals who want to support local growers and buy food that is not from “factory farms.” The first grapefruit was from
By Alan Hewett It seems ironic that while the Australian Prime Minister was in Washington being wined and dined by a man who thinks that climate change is a Chinese invention, Greta Thunberg was in New York at the centre of a global protest against government inaction to address the
By Lauren Salathiel Recycled cardboard placards aloft, more than 2000 concerned residents of Albury and the region joined millions of others around the globe to call for proactive climate policy change at Friday’s Climate Strike. Uniformed school students walked out of school to lead the gathering, a gesture symbolic of
By Jonathon Howard World Rivers Day, the last Saturday in September, is a celebration of waterways, striving to increase public stewardship of rivers around the world. There is good reason to celebrate the Murray, the lifeblood of our region. It produces much of Australia’s wool, cotton, wheat, sheep, cattle, dairy, rice,
By Jenni Huber, Knitting Nannas for Renewables On the September 20, young people around the world are going to strike. They will leave their classrooms and take to the streets in a quest to ask adults join them in protecting our planet’s future. A group of Albury-Wodonga adults – Knitting
By Alan Hewett Imagine you are walking through the bush, far from civilisation. It’s a hot day and you stumble onto a creek partly hidden by overhanging trees and flowing majestically over moss covered rocks. You kneel down and take deep, thirst quenching gulps. What could be better than drinking pure
By Richard Paschke Looks like a nice day today. Time to get up, have a shower, brush teeth and start the car so it warms up. Now gather a few things for the day in the office and into the warm car to drive the few kilometers to work. Plenty
By Matthew Charles-Jones, Totally Renewable Yackandandah Many people across the district are deeply engaged in efforts to use less energy and ‘switch-up’ to reliable, clean and affordable renewable energy. This exploration has led to the consideration of ways we can turn to efficient electric appliances and equipment. One such opportunity
By Gill Baker, Wangaratta Sustainability Network The North East Region Sustainability Alliance (NERSA) marks its 10th birthday this month. The brainchild of Dr Rowan O’Hagan, from Wangaratta’s Sustainability Network, the aim of NERSA was to connect volunteer groups in North East Victoria which had arisen out of concerns that our
by Les Langmead Our family didn’t have telly back in 1969, so we joined the two little old ladies next door and all stared at the fuzzy images of the moon landing. It was, and still is, an awe-inspiring achievement. It only happened because the US government took a “whatever
By Sue Brunskill Bike riding holidays are a great way to get a different perspective – you are going at a pace that lets you see and smell and feel your surroundings, but it also gives you time to think. I have recently been on a bike riding holiday in
