Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Episode 1: Anima | 20250505 | [LISTEN NOW] Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. |
| 01 | Episode 1: Anima | 20250505 | 
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:
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
Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – that a river is alive. This first episode explores how the ‘rights of nature’ movement is gaining momentum.
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| 02 | Episode 2: The River of the Cedars | 20250506 | [LISTEN NOW] Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. |
| 02 | Episode 2: The River of the Cedars | 20250506 |
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 second episode, Robert Macfarlane travels to northern Ecuador:
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
Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – that a river is alive. In this episode, Robert Macfarlane travels to northern Ecuador.
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| 03 | Episode 3: Chennai | 20250507 | [LISTEN NOW] Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. |
| 03 | Episode 3: Chennai | 20250507 |
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 third episode, he travels to Chennai in southern India, where the region’s rivers are being poisoned by pollution, and the region is locked into a brutal cycle of floods and drought. Following the river from its source to the Indian Ocean, he joins a turtle patrol trying to rescue baby turtles on the beach.
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
Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – that a river is alive. In this episode, the rivers of Chennai in southern India that are being poisoned by pollution.
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| 04 | Episode 4: Quebec | 20250508 | [LISTEN NOW] Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. |
| 04 | Episode 4: Quebec | 20250508 |
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 Ecuador, India and Quebec.
In this fourth episode he journeys to Quebec, where the Mutehekau Shipu River is under threat from a major damming project. With an old friend, Wayne, he travels on foot and by kayak down the hundred-mile length of the river.
‘Ahead is a welter of white water. Water detonates, billows, bellows, shrapnels in all directions. Within seconds I hit the six-foot-high face of the first standing wave and the tip of my boat plunges deep into it, then lifts up shuddering out water thick as cream..’
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
Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – that a river is alive. In Quebec, the Mutehekau Shipu River is under threat from a major damming project.
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| 05 | Episode 5: The Springs | 20250509 | [LISTEN NOW] Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. |
| 05 | Episode 5: The Springs | 20250509 |
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 Ecuador, India and Quebec.
In this final episode he visits the springs near his home in Cambridge and imagines the birth of that river, 12,000 years ago. He explores how modern technologies are now able to map the ghost-paths of old rivers, and how the branching flow of rivers echoes the flow of blood within the human body.
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
Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world \u2013 that a river is alive. Robert Macfarlane explores an idea that changes the world - that a river is alive. This book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – that a river is alive. In this episode, how the branching flow of rivers echoes the flow of blood in the human body.
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