Ideas What does it mean for a river to be ‘alive’?
Sep 3, 2025
In this captivating discussion, award-winning natural history writer Robert Macfarlane, historian John Johnson, and environmental historian Jennifer Bonnell explore the idea of rivers as living entities. They delve into the intricate relationship between rivers and human communities, emphasizing the rights of nature and the environmental movement advocating for legal recognition of rivers. The conversation also touches on Indigenous perspectives and the revitalization of urban rivers like Toronto's Don River, weaving together themes of ecological health, community history, and cultural identity.
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Rivers Co-Author The Book
- Macfarlane says rivers 'co-authored' his book by reshaping his language and thought.
- He shifted pronouns and verbs to treat rivers as who and as forces rather than mere objects.
Water As Teacher And Ethic
- John Johnson frames water as foundational to life, story, and Indigenous land-based knowledge.
- Rivers function as teachers that shape ethics and reciprocal relationships with land.
Humber Shaped Toronto's Origins
- Johnson recounts millennia of Indigenous settlement along the Humber with villages, agriculture, and controlled burns.
- Toronto's location and history owe much to these riverine societies and routes.
