Is A River Alive?

Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive is a profound, poetic inquiry into our relationship with the natural environment, blending his characteristic vivid storytelling with urgent ecological questions. This book champions a bold idea: rivers as living entities deserving rights, not mere resources whose corporate exploiters are protected by multiple rights under the law. For those weary of bleak environmental narratives, this beautifully crafted book offers an empowering vision of the fight to preserve nature’s rights to life across the planet.

Watched over by a heron sculpture (a gift from his friend and the writer Alexis Wright), Macfarlane guides the reader through Ecuador’s breathtaking cloud forests under threat from mining; India’s embattled waterways; and Quebec’s wild rivers imperiled by hydroelectric energy dams, weaving expeditions with Indigenous legal fights and activist triumphs. In the ancient cloud-forests in Ecuador, he joins an international crew of colourful eccentric scientists. The description of this trek to this remote region is a pleasure to read, and results in Juliana the mycologist discovering a rare species of fungus. These exquisite river systems conceal precious mineral deposits, the mining of which necessitate the use of cyanide for process refining. The collateral downside is the poisoning of the river and the death of their vast interconnected networks of life. No spoilers, but you must admire the way MacFarlane builds a sense of awe and connection, then rug-pulls you with the imminent threats to the natural world whose only line of defense are the fragile and hard-won efforts of activists.

It is never easy to traverse the complex and fraught terrain of the human requirement for resources against the collateral impacts on environment and species; all human endeavour is a work in progress! Far from despairing over environmental decline, however, the book breathes life into the vibrant “Rights of Nature” movement, whose resilient efforts have afforded a return to life and diversity for many riverine systems. The book is less a lecture and more an invitation to listen to rivers’ rhythms and primacies, and value them beyond mere utility. With meticulously researched stories of activists and artists, Macfarlane transforms grim realities into hope and possibility. Is a River Alive is both intellectually rich and emotionally stirring, balancing sorrow for losses with inspiration for change. The epilogue and the notes are equally wonderful. Come for his exquisite prose and stay for the exceptionally colourful characters who have made their life’s work championing the voiceless: our rivers and wetland ecosystems with whom we share our planet.