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 Lauriston Muirhead ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land Wind turbines were turning supplying demand. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care; The chimney long rested to clean up the air. The moon on the gum leaves and new-fallen dew Gave the lustre of
By Sarah Wallis , Halve Waste Team, Albury Waste Management Centre The best way to reduce your waste footprint this festive season is to slowdown, be thoughtful and buy less. Allow yourself the time to shop thoughtfully for each loved one. This might mean keeping a running list of gift
By Mike Fuery Every year our attention is drawn to the ongoing degradation of our wilderness ecosystems, and statements apportioning blame to the presence of ‘invasive,’ ‘feral’ or ‘pest’ animals. These pejorative terms do nothing to help us solve the underlying problem and conveniently side-step the reason for them being
By Graham Parton When looking for ways to live lightly, an important consideration relates to our energy sources. Clean energy means lower greenhouse emissions. Australia’s National Party have recently become advocates for nuclear power, and their coalition partners the Liberals would like to have “an intelligent conversation” about it. Both
By Lauriston Muirhead Biodiversity is the diversity of life found in an ecosystem. The more biodiverse, the more balanced and resilient the ecosystem. A diverse ecosystem is more resistant to shocks and will last longer. What has biodiversity ever done for us? Well for a start, it has provided nearly
By Jenny Indian A friend of mine recently lamented that when she planned her garden she failed to take into account the importance of planting native vegetation to attract native birds. Although she had planted some natives, her feeling was that she should have planted a total native garden. On
By Alan Hewett What is the single oldest living thing on Earth? Until recently it was a Great Basin bristlecone pine in California called, appropriately, Methuselah. It’s age? 4,853 years old. Amazing as that sounds a tree recently discovered in Chile called Gran Abuelo (great-grandfather), is estimated to be 5,484
By Anne Stelling, Parklands Albury Wodonga It’s frog season and anyone walking in the parks will be well aware – in some places the evening chorus can be almost deafening! Hearing their combined calls, I find myself listening for one in particular – the big, intermittent ‘gulp’ call of the
By Alan Hewitt If you have driven along the Great River Road near Tintaldra or walked along the Yindymarra trail and the recently opened Crossing trail you will have seen the various sculptures celebrating the Bogong moth. But what was the importance of the moth to indigenous people? For millennia
By Chris McGorlick It’s little wonder to me that so many writers find success, fame or resonance when using their garden as muse or subject. Gardening is literally the act of coaxing life to flourish, so naturally it follows that it should also represent ‘fertile ground’ for euphemism and metaphor
By Bruce Key – member of Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) One of the challenges of a modern society is how to dispose of waste. A particular concern that people often draw to my attention is the massive amount of waste that will come from solar panels when they
By Karen Retra, Wodonga Urban Landcare Network Have you heard of the Sloane’s froglet? It’s a tiny, local, endangered frog. They are around 2cm long and grey-olive in colour. Male frogs call to advertise to potential mates and to warn off other male frogs. Frog calls are distinctive, so hearing them
