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 Chris McGorlick I think I’m becoming a materialist – I’m learning to love my material objects. I recently bought a bike. Let me be clear – I’m no consumerist. I got no thrill from the act of purchasing this bike. In fact, researching and finding a quality used model
By Matthew Charles-Jones, Totally Renewable Yackandandah How good is hot water? Hot running water blissfully punctuates our days, showers, baths and cleaning! In towns across the region, this acknowledgement is jumping to a new level. Action is underway to reframe the way we generate hot water to; save money, reduce
By Karen Bowley, Wooragee Landcare and Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health member I recently attended a workshop on Fungi organised by Wooragee Landcare. It was given by Alison Pouliot who is not only an amazing photographer but an expert on fungi. In the workshop she helped us identify fungi and told
By Lizette Salmon, Gardens for Wildlife Albury-Wodonga project officer How many Australian birds can you name? Twenty? Fifty? One hundred or more? If you’re at the lower end of the scale but interested in upping your bird ID, we have just the session for you. This Sunday, July 7, ecologist
By Karen Bowley, Member of Wooragee Landcare and Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health Wooragee Landcare has been active in the community since 1989. It was formed by local landholders with the aim to motivate and support landholders to engage in sustainable land management practices, improve the management of our natural
By Richard Paschke Litter is everywhere. It moves with the wind and through our streams until it ends up in the oceans and becomes part of the global pollution that kills wildlife. Recently, a video went viral about a fisher using Mentos wrappers as bait. Two months ago, a dead
By Andrew Baker With our energy mix shifting away from coal and fossil fuels, and new interest in electric vehicles (EVs), it seems almost inevitable that many of us will transition to the use of electric cars as sustainable transport options for the future. However, during conversations about electric cars
By Katherine Muirhead, Tabletop When we first moved to the “rural” suburbs 15 years ago, we planted hundreds of native shrubs including a variety of grevillea, callistemon and flowering eucalypts. Nearer the house we grew flowering plants, creepers, vines and buddleia to encourage birds, bees and butterflies. We had a
By Geoff Williams, Australian Platypus Conservancy Do you want to monitor local platypus numbers as part of a new citizen science project that seeks to conserve this very special mammal? The Australian Platypus Conservancy (APC) has developed standardised visual monitoring techniques during the past decade that very effectively track how
By Lizette Salmon, Gardens for Wildlife Albury-Wodonga Project Officer It’s very disappointing when you put a plant in the garden and it’s nibbled to the ground by rabbits. Or when your chooks are killed by a fox. Feral pests are a challenge for many of us living on the outskirts of
By Jonathan Howard Roadside reserves are complex parcels of land, with a range of interests and issues at play. Often these reserves retain significant biodiversity, including those remnants of ecological communities that are not well represented in national parks or stock reserves. They also provide valuable corridors, especially when linked
By Mick Webster Many people approaching their ‘twilight years’ seem to cast around without much idea as to what to do with the rest of their life – possibly 20 or 30 years, when they are still reasonably fit and have a desire to learn about the world, and maybe
