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 Merlin Tzaros – age 13, who has had a keen interest in nature, especially reptiles, for several years The Bandy Bandy is a predatory snake that sits one step up the food chain than its Blind Snake counterpart, feeding almost exclusively on Blind Snake species, sometimes consuming individuals as
By Lizette Salmon, Gardens for Wildlife Albury-Wodonga Project Officer for Wodonga Urban Landcare Network I’ve had the privilege of visiting many wonderful habitat gardens across Albury-Wodonga, but to date I’ve only come across one that features exclusively indigenous (locally native) plants. Despite being located in the middle of suburbia, stepping into
By Alan Hewett We are well into autumn and the period when prescribed or hazard reduction burning takes place. This entails the deliberate lighting of fires under controlled conditions to reduce leaf litter, grasses and bark. The purpose is to reduce excess fuel to mitigate the danger of severe bush
By Jonathon Howard Wolf spiders are small to medium sized spider that are generally grey or brown with a series of black stripes. You may find them in your garden and lawns. The two most common species around here are Tasmanicosa godeffroyi and Venatrix furcillata. Wolf spiders have eight eyes:
By Ian Davidson and Chris Tzaros – Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability When birdwatching in bushland areas, our attention is often drawn to species that occur in the trees and shrubs, or that move conspicuously by flying about and calling. However, some birds are quite secretive in their habits and seldom
By Jen Huber, Albury Wodonga Knitting Nannas for Renewables Albury Wodonga Knitting Nannas for Renewables are a group of grandmothers who want the best for our kids and grandkids, as we all do. We are very aware that we are in difficult times and that action is needed. The IPCC (Intergovernmental
By Merlin Tzaros, Wangaratta – age 13, who has had a keen interest in nature, especially reptiles, for several years. One of the most iconic, well-known, and likeable reptiles in Australia can be found in most backyards in north-east Victoria. The Eastern Blue-tongue is a species of skink ranging in
By Lizette Salmon, Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health (WATCH) Suppose you offer your teenage son a chance to avoid cleaning his room by reducing his pocket money from $10.00 to $9.99 each week. It’s very likely he’d accept the loss of a cent in order to avoid cleaning his room.
By Kirsten Coates Lately I have been obsessed with lawns, and I don’t mean in a good way. Having recently learned that the average petrol lawn mower produces more carbon emissions hour by hour than a car made me dig a little deeper into the facts. Ride on petrol mowers
By Ian Davidson and Chris Tzaros – Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability The Australian Reed-Warbler is more often heard than seen, but can be observed at times climbing amongst reeds and other water vegetation or making short low flights across water. They were originally named the Clamorous Reed-warbler after its similarities
By Alan Hewett We have all seen the delight of children feeding bread to ducks! How many of us have thrown chips to seagulls at the beach and watched the feeding frenzy that follows? What about the bird feeders in our gardens, when the birds become trusting enough to be
By Jonathon Howard It’s normal for folks living along the coast of NSW to hear the sound of the Koels in Spring when they arrive from their wintering grounds further north. These birds let the locals know they have arrived with a loud repeated ‘coo-weee’ call. However, Koels have also
