Living Lightly articles

By Dave Cromarty, retired forester and Landcare facilitator One afternoon a couple of years ago, I was walking along King street in Sydney’s Newtown when I was approached by a young student campaigning for the Australian Conservation Foundation. My normal reaction in these circumstances is to be too busy to talk and walk on, but this was

By Alan Hewett, Chiltern Landcare member A national park is an area of land set apart for the preservation and protection of native plants and animals. They are usually areas of natural beauty and some, like Kakadu, have cultural significance. Today in Australia there are over five hundred national parks,

By Gill Baker,  Wangaratta Sustainability Network Are your bulbs behaving promiscuously? Have alien birds been visiting your patch? Is your Manchurian Pear confused? When you have lived in the same patch for nearly 40 years you can’t help but develop a certain connectedness to other species that live there too,

By Christine Holmes, Benalla Food Co-op Coordinator It is hard to believe that the Benalla Food Co-op has been operating for exactly three years. During this period of time, membership has steadily increased and we currently have 63 members who have a strong commitment towards more sustainable food purchases. We

By Dave Cromarty, retired forester and Landcare facilitator At this time of year as we struggle to stay warm, we might ponder how to minimise our carbon footprint with our household heating. During winter, space heating and water heating are a big component of most household carbon emissions so how

By Lauren Salathiel, Totally Renewable Yackandandah Since hosting the Indigo Shire’s first community energy forum earlier this year, some residents in Yackandandah have set an ambitious goal – to achieve “energy sovereignty” and go 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2022. A lofty pursuit it may be, but the town’s

By Karen Bowley, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) and Wooragee Landcare Using green cleaning products is not only effective but economical and contains no dangerous chemicals so is safe for you to use and for the environment.  One of my favourite products is cheap and can be used for

By Narelle Haw, Building Biologist and Feng Shui Practitioner Statistics show that 9 in 10 of us suffer from some sort of sleeping disorder.  From having difficulty falling asleep, restless nights spent tossing and turning to waking up feeling tired despite the obligatory 6-8 hours’ sleep the majority of us

By Alan Hewitt, Chiltern Landcare member Since European settlement nearly 90% of private land in Victoria has been cleared of native vegetation. What is native vegetation? It is the trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses that existed before Europeans arrived.           This widespread clearing has seen significant environmental consequences: loss of habitat

By Alison Mitchell, Friends of Willow Park and Wodonga Urban Landcare Network Do you know?  If you’re like me, until recently, I would have said “the bank” or “the government”.  No, actually, money is created by debt.  The history of money is quite fascinating, but the more recent history is somewhat disturbing. 

By Karen Bowley and Natasha Stafford, Member of Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) and Permaculturalist Victoria and NSW are currently experiencing a rush of exploration for ‘unconventional’ gas and there are parts of both states under coal, coal seam gas (CSG), shale gas, or tight gas exploration licenses. 
The