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This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – the idea that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane asks us to imagine that rivers are not mere water for human use, but living beings, who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law.

Around the world, rivers are dying from pollution, drought and damming. But a powerful movement is also underway worldwide to recognise the lives and rights of rivers. This young ‘rights of nature’ movement has lit up activists, artists and lawmakers across six continents, and become a focus for revolutionary thinking.

In Is a River Alive? Robert Macfarlane explores rivers across the world, journeying to northern Ecuador, southern India and north-eastern Quebec. In all these places rivers are under threat - but dedicated activists are battling to defend them.

In this first episode, Robert Macfarlane explores the philosophical challenge of transforming how we think about rivers:
‘I began these river-journeys in doubt and uncertainty. I knew the question to which I wanted an answer –– Is a river alive? –– to be a formidably hard one, even as I wished it to be simple. How we answer this strange, confronting question matters deeply. But even the asking of it is a first step. For our fate flows with rivers, and always has.’

Robert Macfarlane is internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His best-selling books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well as a book-length prose-poem, Ness. As a lyricist and performer, he has collaborated with musicians including Karine Polwart, Johnny Flynn and Cosmo Sheldrake. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Read by Robert Macfarlane
With music by Cosmo Sheldrake and Robert Macfarlane
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4