Robert Macfarlane: Rivers Are Dying So Give Them Rights

Robert Macfarlane: Rivers Are Dying So Give Them Rights

Radical with Amol Rajan

Serious pollution incidents by water companies in England rose by 60% last year, but the best-selling author Robert Macfarlane says there is a way to save our rivers.

Days after a long-awaited review of the water sector in England and Wales was published, Amol sat down with Robert for a conversation about the state of rivers globally, why some are dying and how we can save them.

From President Donald Trump's dismantling of the Clean Water Act in the US to the dying River Wye, Robert takes us on a journey around the world and explains why he is optimistic about the future.

He says we can do things like give our rivers rights and mobilise citizen scientists to save them.

Robert also digs out Amol's report card from when he taught him at Cambridge University more than twenty years ago.

Link here to listen

Robert Macfarlane has a new book out about rivers "Is a River Alive"

At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.