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 Roger Findlay, Gerogery West When I was a boy, growing up in England, my father leased an Allotment. The first one was beneath a railway embankment with an old wooden shed but he later moved to another that was closer to our terraced house and to his mate who
By Maureen Cooper, Wooragee Landcare The other morning I was suffering with very sore knees from lifting my Grandson, aged six, up to the monkey bars so he could copy his older brother and swing from bar to bar. My knees are my weakest part so I was sitting in bed
By Roger Findlay, Gerogery West When people ask me about where we live my reply is normally followed by a question on whether we have stock and do we eat our own meat. I often detect a hint of envy but I know, deep-down, that it’s not as glamourous as
By Maureen Cooper, Wooragee Landcare I enjoyed the article by Alan Hewett (https://ecoportal.net.au/seasonal-herbaceous-wetlands) and, though most of my wetlands are manmade (two dams and one pond which was created when a dam was started but not finished) I am now seeing the return of native water plants because of the
By Alan Hewett, Chiltern Landcare member Many people, particularly in industry superannuation funds, do not know how their money is invested. When making investments these funds are not required to take into account any ethical considerations. There could be investments in weapons, gambling, tobacco, old growth logging, uranium mining, or
By Roger Findlay, Gerogery West My wife and I were raised at the time when most families were relatively poor. Putting food on the table was often a challenge and it required a skill that appears to be vanishing. You don’t have to be eating the best steak to have
By Karen Retra, Seed Savers Albury-Wodonga Did you notice all the worms out during the recent rain? Earthworms are great at breaking down organic matter. Their movement underground also helps to aerate the soil. Plus worm castings contain nutrients plants can easily access. Worm activity even increases the soil’s water
By Roger Findlay, Gerogery West With the onset of winter it is important to keep warm. There’s nothing worse than feeling cold and I feel for the elderly and homeless right now as well as those battling with increased power and gas charges. Unless you have a solar system heating
By Roger Findlay, Gerogery West Every time I drive up the road at night, I see a wonderful resource right there before my eyes. Yes, a distant relative of the five that came over with the First Fleet in 1788. I mentioned before that there’s nothing quite like a meal
By Alan Hewett, Chiltern Landcare member Hopefully the change of government in Victoria will see a review of policy regarding wind power. Since 2011 Victoria has become one of the hardest places in the world to build a wind farm. This was due to legislation enacted that virtually shut down any
By Karen Retra, Seed Savers Albury-Wodonga Which pollinators visit your area? I bet you said bees, right? European honey bees are great pollinators, but you might be surprised to hear they aren’t the only ones. Many other insects are pollinators too. For example, across Australia there are around 2,000 species
By Bruce Key, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) It is hard for a council like Albury to live lightly when it has to dispose of large amounts of rubbish. Two problems arise; – firstly the sheer volume of waste, and secondly the methane emissions from rotting vegetable matter. In
