Getting a prickly pest under control
By Mick Webster, Friends of Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park Many visitors to the western end of Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park will see scattered clumps of Prickly Pear, an introduced cactus that was a real nuisance many years ago. This is largely controlled now by a species of cochineal beetle, which eats the leaves (technically called …
Vote as if life depends on it. Because it does.
By Lauren Salathiel In Victoria, local council elections are just around the corner, with voting closing on October 23. Voting for a candidate is about much more than the cliched “roads, rates, rubbish”, though. With climate change the defining issue of this era, this local government election presents us with an opportunity to ensure our …
Reading group shines a light on alternatives for living
By Lauren Salathiel
At 7.30pm every second Monday for the past 12 weeks, I’ve turned on my computer to “meet” digitally with a group of Yackandandah friends and neighbours for a reading group with a potentially world-changing difference.
Our group has been one of hundreds, nation-wide, to participate in a reading, discussion …
Restoring the river
By Anne Stelling, Parklands Albury Wodonga “River restoration” sounds like something beyond the power of ordinary people – something requiring engineers, heavy machinery and lots of money. But here in Albury Wodonga, a long-term community vision for restoration and reconnection of our Murray River corridor is quietly achieving just that, with volunteers, cooperation and community …
Change begins at home
By Chris McGorlick With social restrictions beginning to ease, there is a group gathering whose return I am eagerly awaiting. In February this year, 30 of my neighbours, young and old, responded to a simple letter-box invite to a pot-luck dinner to share thoughts, ideas and feelings about climate change. Over salads, pastries and puddings, …
Science must guide pandemic and climate response
By Lauriston Muirhead The challenges of COVID19 and climate change are global in scale but also affect all our lives. The two issues are having, and will continue to have, major effects on our health, our society and our economy. Since many human lives are at stake in both situations it is important to learn …
I talk to the trees
By John Whale I met Wally early one morning while I was walking around Willow Park, after having moved down to Wodonga, just two and half years ago. I instantly recognised his foliage and we immediately formed a close personal bond because he too had recently moved down from the same region as I had, …
There’s something better than the old ‘normal’
By Chris McGorlick In times of crisis, governments of all persuasions are wont to encourage citizens to focus on the future and the response to the crisis, rather than the circumstances that led us there in the first place. The words ‘now is not the time’ have been used so frequently in response to shootings in America, and …
Fleeing from climate danger
By Alan Hewett and Joan Jones We are climate change refugees. That of course is an exaggeration but has a semblance of truth. My partner and I lived in the Indigo Valley for eighteen years on a 53 hectare property that had a covenant on the title to protect the native vegetation. Although we were …
An emergency in every sense
By Lauren Salathiel, Chris McGorlick, Kirsten Coates and Richard Nunn (Yackandandah) We’ve just returned from the National Climate Emergency Summit in Melbourne, a meeting of scientists, citizens, activists, Indigenous leaders, politicians across the spectrum, journalists, students and non-government organisations. The common ground among these people was their recognition of the climate emergency we’re facing …
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About Living Lightly …
Living Lightly is a column in the Border Mail newspaper on Wednesdays featuring local stories about sustainable living.
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