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 Bruce Key, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) If there was ever a great place to live lightly it is north-east Victoria. Because I live in Wodonga, this article will be based around Albury-Wodonga but similar comments could be made about other towns in our area. Aside from the
By Gill Baker, Wangaratta Sustainability It’s not only the head of the Catholic Church who has recognised the invidious nature of human induced Climate Change, and has been prepared to speak out about it. As well as the Christian Churches, Islamic, Buddhist and many other religious groups have ‘Green Faith’ movements
By Claire Greenhalgh, Sustainable Activity Centre Think about this number for a minute – 156.8 billion. In this country, we have used and disposed of 156.8 billion plastic bags since 1977. (That’s close to 429,000 every hour). Amazing isn’t it? But the most amazing thing is how they are created and how long
By Gerri Boland, Wooragee Landcare member If you have excess citrus, and do not want to waste it, you can preserve it to add to salads, marinades and curries. This method results in a course pasty texture -not the traditional style of citrus segments in brine or oil. There are many
By Maureen Cooper, Wooragee Landcare I had just been watering the vegies in case the predicted storm didn’t eventuate and I found a big red-bellied black snake caught up in the bird netting which I had put over my seedlings. The wind had blown it off the bed and the snake
By Karen Bowley, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) and Wooragee Landcare. I was lucky to receive Planet to Plate: the Earth Hour Cookbook, a beautiful hardcover book as a gift. It is more than just a cookbook. It contains interviews with our Australian farmers about how they are dealing with climate
By Alan Hewett, Trust For Nature Covenanter Flies! This year after all the wet weather they are peskier than normal. They drive us to distraction. They love to hang around humans because they feed on secretions from our eyes, mouth and nose and on our sweat. We consider them a threat
By Tracey Esler The earth is one big living, breathing, interconnected entity. The Great Barrier Reef is like the canary in the coalmine and it’s seriously ill. Our very own Westpac Bank may well put the final nail in the Reef’s coffin if they lend money for the proposed Adani
By Richard Paschke, Wangaratta Stephanie Woollard is one of the most impressive young people I have met in my life. In August last year Stephanie invited me to a screening of the documentary ‘Bringing the Light’ which portrays the company ‘Seven Women’, and the impact the company has on many of
By Lizette Salmon, Repair Café Albury-Wodonga coordinator It’s often said that volunteers are the lifeblood of an organisation. I disagree. At Albury-Wodonga’s Repair Café they’re the blood, the guts, the heart and the backbone. Our Repair Café opened in November 2015 and keeps getting better, thanks to an ever-growing team of
By Karen Bowley, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) and Wooragee Landcare While the Catholic Church has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons, the Pope has outlined a clear understanding of climate change in his Encyclical Letter “Laudato si” written in May 2015. In part of that
By Tess Middleton, Fin Free Albury Wodonga In 2050 the ocean will have more plastic than fish. This statement may seem unbelievable but sadly it is true if current trends continue. Did you know that the amount of plastic thrown away every year is enough to circle the earth four
