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, 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
By Melissa Kane Have you ever heard the urban myth that if you don’t wash your hair for six weeks, you will never need to wash it again? Having been a slave to oily hair, which needed to be washed every two days, this myth had always held appeal. For
By Matthew Charles-Jones Most of us love the smell of freshly cut lawn and its anchor in memories past. Sun-filled summers with friends, family, backyard cricket, burnt sausages and sunburn. To build new memories, last week I purchased a battery mower. As with any significant change in long-held practice, the
By Chris McGorlick Getting a driver’s license and a car is a rite of passage of sorts in Australia. I remember getting mine at 18, and finally having the world (as far as a tank of petrol would take me) at my fingertips. However, increasingly, I’ve come to see my
By Lauren Salathiel There exists a window of historic opportunity right now for Australia to commit to the decarbonisation of its economy and net-zero emissions by 2050, via new federal legislation being introduced to the parliament in early November. Independent member for Warringah, Zali Steggall, is relaunching her Climate Change
By Jonathon Howard We’ve been seeing a lot of each other recently and we need to think about taking the next step. I know, my visits have been sporadic, but I want you know you are always on your mind. As I mow the lawn I see you there by
By Alan Hewett “They had not lived long enough.” Judge Leonard Stretton made this famous statement in his royal commission report after the 1939 bushfires. He was not referring to the age of those who died but indicated their lack of knowledge about the environment they lived in. The question
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
By Tony van Rompaey, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) In recent years climate change has had more and more exposure in the media. There are many organisations across the world that are advocating governments to take ‘climate action.’ Despite calls for action, little seems to change and each year
By Lauriston Muirhead Australia has made a great deal of money from mining an incredibly useful family of compounds for use locally and for export. The industry created large numbers of jobs in mining, transport, processing and marketing for example. Unfortunately, solid scientific research indicated significant damage to environmental and
By Kirsten Coates My internet yoga teacher conducts her lessons with her dog Benji by her side. I have tried this too but my three-legged dog Lexi just thinks this is time to play and, needless to say, I end up banishing her to another room. Although she is a
By Melissa Kane I’m bringing thrifty back, which might sound quite presumptuous, but I’ve been using the time during COVID and on the back of Plastic Free July to pause, reflect and examine what going plastic free means for me. Everyone is on their own plastic free journey and I
