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 Mick Webster Locals may be interested in a citizen science conservation project undertaken by my brother near Christchurch in New Zealand. Next to his conservation covenanted bush block on the Banks Peninsula is a sizable plantation of exotic Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa). These trees were planted 30 years ago
By Ian Davidson and Chris Tzaros – Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability The White-plumed Honeyeater is often one of the first birds to call in the morning and the last to call in the evening. It is commonly observed along the treed waterways and roadsides throughout our district, flitting around the
By Kirsten Coates What would Australia look like by 2030 if we simply listened to the needs of its people? Imagine what a high-speed rail network connecting regional areas and cities would look like! Imagine what large scale wind, solar, battery and hydrogen projects would do for hundreds of thousands
By Kirsten Coates The annual tradition of announcing the “Word of the Year” by various dictionaries is always interesting but never surprising. We have had “vax”, “quarantine” and “iso” in the last two years. But before that, the 2019 Word of the Year according to the Cambridge Dictionary was “upcycling”,
By James Sloan Whatever “net zero” carbon emissions really means and whether we can achieve it and keep global warming to 1.5° by 2050, depends to a large extent on individuals in wealthy countries like Australia making sacrifices to the way we live. Threatened by global warming, most of us
By Alan Hewett Is the modern diet superior to that of our ancestors? Our eating habits have changed more in the last 150 years than in the previous million years. Thanks to globalisation we can eat a range of foods at all times of the year but how nutritious is
By Bruce Key Sometimes we come across a story with a message. Here is one such story. The story is about a large pond, about the size of a farm dam. On day one, a microscopic weed blows into the pond. The weed is very vigorous, and every day it
By Jonathon Howard I try my best to recycle but it can be confusing. It’s the mixed materials I have difficulty with. Take a packet of Tim Tams… the plastic tray is hard plastic, so it goes in the domestic recycle bin. By contrast, the wrapper is soft plastic so
By Charles Robinson After noticing the increasing intensity of summer downpours on our property over a ten-year period, I decided to take decisive action. Heavy rainfall would often result in water lapping at our doorstep and it would only be a matter of time before extreme rains would force this
By Geoff Williams of the Australian Platypus Conservancy We’ve frequently had cause to describe how the Australian Platypus Monitoring Network (APMN) is helping to harness volunteer energy and enthusiasm on behalf of platypus conservation. APMN participants have to date conducted over 43,000 standardised scans and recorded nearly 12,000 platypus sightings
By David Coleman For Albury to play its part in combatting climate change, supporting clean and green transport throughout the community offers the best ‘bang for buck’ actions Council can take. Everyone’s health and prosperity will improve enormously if we slash the harm transport causes. The transport sector contributes 21%
By Karen Retra Did you know there are about 500 species of ladybird beetles in Australia? Of these, I regularly see five species in my garden. Ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae family) are terrific pest controllers. For many species, both the larvae and adults feed on small, soft-bodied and sap-sucking insects like
