Ideas from the CBC: Is a River Alive?

Renowned natural history writer Robert Macfarlane visited three pivotal places in the movement to recognize the legal rights of nature: the otherworldly lushness and biodiversity of Rio Los Cedros in an Ecuadorean cloud forest; the degraded rivers of Chennai, India, effectively killed by pollution and neglect; and a life-altering kayak journey down the powerful Mutehekau Shipu, or Magpie River, in Quebec. All rivers under threat from human industry; all rivers with passionate guardians; all rivers that lead to a profound reconsideration of what it means to be a living thing and what it means to live in relation to the natural world.