Living Lightly articles

By Mark Verbaken, Wodonga City Council What can go into the kerbside recycling bin? Did you know the answer varies between councils, states and around the country? The regional waste contractor, Cleanaway, empties and processes the contents of 50,000 local household recycling bins every fortnight across Wodonga, Indigo, Towong, Albury, Greater Hume

By Kirby Browne, Permaculture student, National Environment Centre, Thurgoona More often than not, when people ask me what I am studying my reply is met with a blank stare or the timid enquiry “What exactly is Permaculture?” Initially this made me nervous, as anyone who’s ever tried to simplify such a

By Jenni Huber, Friends of Willow Park I would like to share ways that my family has been able to do to lighten our carbon footprint. Nothing so unusual, but put together it has made our house easier to live in and cheaper to run. The house is 20 years old.

By Chris Smith, Happy Gardeners on behalf of Thurgoona Community Garden To define sustainability poses an enigma, there is no accepted definition; however I believe the best modern description available would be the effort required by a person or group of persons acting together to produce and manage edible food groups

By Matthew Charles-Jones, Yackandandah Last Christmas, my long-lost memories of the childhood joy and thrill of bicycles were rekindled.  Our four-year-old neighbour had been given a shiny, clean and new bicycle.  It was a piece of engineering brilliance with wonderfully bright artwork, fine styling and beauty in its simplicity. Many of us

By David Macilwain, WATCH (Wodonga & Albury Towards Climate Health) I always had a thing about Population. Perhaps my parents started it (well obviously they started me) as I was the last of their two children, but in my teens an illustration in a magazine had a great impression on me.

By Alastair Richards, Gardens for Wildlife Albury Wodonga Gardens for Wildlife aims to encourage and recognise wildlife and environmentally friendly garden practices in urban gardens. On Sunday 5 June  (World Environment Day) Gardens for Wildlife is coordinating an event at Willow Park Wodonga. There will be display of local plants and

By Matthew Charles- Jones, Yackandandah Sustainability Smallish, pale greenish, unassuming and egg-like in shape, these fruit appear to be nothing remarkable. Last year I was lucky enough to eye-ball these ripening fruit on a shrub in our relatively new backyard, distinguished only by previously having had the most magnificent bearded white-ish

By Fiona Hughes, Albury Wodonga Regional Food Security Network When I was studying at university and living on a low wage, I struggled financially to access healthy nutritious food, my diet was based on vegemite on toast and 2-minute noodles. Fortunately for me, I have learnt how to grow, prepare and

by Gill Baker, NERSA member Sustainability groups are cropping up all over Australia. They are formed of many like minded people who have come together because they sense that western lifestyles are unsustainable, the resources of our planet are finite, and that deeply disturbing things are happening to our natural

By Lizette Salmon, member of WATCH (Wodonga & Albury Towards Climate Health) I have a confession to make. I haven’t been eating my root vegetables. Here I am in Fiji – the land of the long, fat root vegetable – trying to live as lightly as possible yet not more than

By Ben Habib,   Lecturer in Politics at La Trobe University, Albury Wodonga and member of WATCH (Wodonga & Albury Towards Climate Health) In my first year at university there was an award on offer at my boarding college called the “Bachelor of Applied Eating”, which I attained by consuming everything on