Biography
Robert Macfarlane (born August 15, 1976) is a British writer and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, best known for his books on landscape, nature, place, people and language. These include The Old Ways (2012), Landmarks (2015), The Lost Words (2017), Underland (2019) and Is a River Alive? (2025).
In 2017 he received The E. M. Forster Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is married to professor of modern Chinese history and literature Julia Lovell; they have three children. His grandfather was the British Diplomat and mountaineer Edward Peck.
Biography
In 2022 and 2024, Macfarlane was named as an outside contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Macfarlane was born in Halam in Nottinghamshire, and attended Nottingham High School. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Magdalen College, Oxford. He began a PhD at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 2000, and in 2001 was elected a Fellow of the college.
His father John Macfarlane is a respiratory physician who co-authored the CURB-65 score of pneumonia in 2003. His brother James is also a consultant physician in respiratory medicine.
Publications
Mountains of the Mind, Macfarlane's first book, published in 2003, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
It is an account of the development of Western attitudes to mountains and precipitous landscapes, and takes its title from a line by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. The book asks why people, including Macfarlane, are drawn to mountains despite their obvious dangers, and examines the powerful and sometimes fatal hold that mountains can come to have over the imagination.
The Irish Times described the book as "a new kind of exploration writing, perhaps even the birth of a new genre, which demands a new category of its own."
Publications
Original Copy: Plagiarism and Originality in Nineteenth-Century Literature was published in March 2007.
In the book, Macfarlane examines originality and plagiarism in English literature between 1859 and 1900, and explores the changing understanding of originality and self seen in Romantic and Victorian literature. He presents two theories of literary originality: creatio, meaning creation "from nothing," and inventio, meaning creation based on "inventive reuse." Macfarlane argues that a key element of English literature during the nineteenth century was a gradual rejection of creatio in favor of prioritizing inventio. The book includes discussion of the works of Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, among others.
Original Copy was positively received by both academic and journalistic reviewers. In a 2008 review, Meg Jensen described the book as arguing in favor of an "open and collaborative response of authors to works of the past." Jensen noted that this view diverged from that of Macfarlane's fellow Pembroke College alumnus Harold Bloom, whose 1973 book The Anxiety of Influence interpreted "literary inheritance as a burden that must be concealed and negotiated."
Publications
The Wild Places, published in September 2007, describes a series of journeys made in search of the wildness in Britain and Ireland. The book won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, the Scottish Arts Council Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award, and the Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Festival, North America's equivalent of the Boardman Tasker Prize.
It became a best-seller in Britain and The Netherlands, and was shortlisted for six further prizes, including the Dolman Best Travel Book Award, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and North America's Orion Book Award, a prize founded "to recognize books that deepen our connection to the natural world, present new ideas about our relationship with nature, and achieve excellence in writing."
The Wild Places was adapted for television as an episode of the BBC Two Natural World series broadcast in February 2010; the film later won a Wildscreen Award.
Publications
The Old Ways: A Journey On Foot, the third in the "loose trilogy of books about landscape and the human heart" begun by Mountains of the Mind and The Wild Places, was published in June 2012.
The book describes the years Macfarlane spent following "old ways" (pilgrimage paths, sea-roads, prehistoric trackways, ancient rights of way) in southeast England, northwest Scotland, Spain, Sichuan and Palestine. Its guiding spirit is the early 20th century writer and poet, Edward Thomas, and its chief subject is the reciprocal shaping of people and place.
The Old Ways was on the bestseller lists for six months. It was acclaimed as a "tour de force" in The Observer. It was chosen as Book of the Year by John Banville, Philip Pullman, Jan Morris, John Gray, Antony Beevor, and Dan Stevens among others.
In the UK, it was joint winner of the Dolman Prize for Travel Writing, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize (the "non-fiction Booker"), the Jan Michalski Prize for World Literature, the Duff Cooper Prize for Non-Fiction, the Warwick Prize for Writing, the Waterstones Book of the Year, and three other prizes. In the US, it was shortlisted for the Orion Book Award.
Publications
Landmarks, a book that celebrates and defends the language of landscape, was published in the UK in March 2015. A version of its first chapter, published in The Guardian as The Word-Hoard, went viral, and the book became a Sunday Times number one bestseller. It was shortlisted for The Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.
Landmarks is "a field guide to the literature of nature, and a vast glossary collecting thousands of the remarkable terms used in dozens of the languages and dialects of Britain and Ireland to describe and denote aspects of terrain, weather, and nature." Each of the book's chapters explores the landscapes and style of a writer or writers, as Macfarlane travels to meet farmers, sailors, walkers, glossarians, artists, poets and others who have developed intense and committing relationships with their chosen places.
The chapter of the book concerning Nan Shepherd and the Cairngorm mountains was adapted for television by BBC4 and BBC Scotland. Macfarlane's detailed writing style, and his frequent references to dialect vocabulary, were satirized in a February 2016 edition of Private Eye by Craig Brown in the magazine's regular "Diary" feature.
Landmarks was published in the US in August 2016 and described in The Wall Street Journal as a book that "teaches us to love our world, even the parts of it that we have neglected. Mr. Macfarlane is the great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation."
Publications
In May 2016 Macfarlane published The Gifts of Reading, a short book about gifts, stories and the unexpected consequences of generosity. All work for the book was given for free, and all moneys raised were donated to MOAS, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, to save refugee lives.
With the artist Jackie Morris, Macfarlane published The Lost Words: A Spell Book in October 2017. The book became what The Guardian called "a cultural phenomenon," winning Children's Book of the Year. The "lost" words of the book's title are twenty of the names for everyday nature—from "Acorn" through to "Wren" by way of "Bluebell," "Kingfisher," "Lark," and "Otter"—that were controversially dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary due to under-use by children. [NOTE: we read The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams.]
Grassroots campaigns sprang up to raise money to place copies of the book in every primary and special school in all of Scotland, half of England and a quarter of Wales. Funds were also raised to place a copy in every hospice in Britain.
Publications
Underland: A Deep Time Journey, published in May 2019, is a book about the deep-time pasts and futures of the Earth, as revealed by mythical underworlds and real subterranean journeys. The book was serialized on BBC Radio 4 as the Book of the Week for 29 April - 3 May 2019.
Is a River Alive? was published in May 2025.
Amazon: At its heart is a single, transformative that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Inspired by the activists, artists and lawmakers of the young ‘Rights of Nature’ movement, Macfarlane takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.
Publications
Is a River Alive? flows like water from the mountains to the sea, over three major journeys:
The first is to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened with destruction by gold-mining.
The second is to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.
The third is to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.
Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream who rises a mile from Macfarlane’s house, and flows through his own years and days.
Passionate, immersive and revelatory, Is a River Alive? is at once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date. It is a book that will open hearts, spark debates and challenge perspectives. Lit throughout by other minds and voices, it invites us radically to reimagine not only rivers but also life itself. At the center of this vital, beautiful book is the recognition that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.
Publications
The World to Come – November 5, 2024 (ages 1-5) by Robert Macfarlane (Author), Johnny Flynn (Author), Emily Sutton (Illustrator)
Stunning picture book collaboration from bestselling author Robert Macfarlane, actor Johnny Flynn, and illustrator Emily Sutton
On my way through the wood wound a thread through the dream...
Take a lyrical journey with a father and son who walk together through an ever-changing landscape and discover a world to come that's filled with hope. This beautiful book sings with a love of words and rhythm, and vividly conjures the magic of nature. Astonishing artwork makes this picture book an instant classic.
An instant classic showcasing the beauty of nature
Wonderful read-aloud text that sings with a love of words and rhythm
Stunning illustrations for a picture book filled with hope and wonder.
Rights of Nature (Wikipedia)
Rights of nature or Earth rights is a legal theory that describes the inherent (intrinsic) rights of ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights. The rights of nature concept challenges twentieth-century laws as generally grounded in a flawed frame of nature as a "resource" to be owned, used, and degraded.
Proponents argue that laws grounded in rights of nature direct humanity to act appropriately and in a way consistent with modern, system-based science, which demonstrates that humans and the natural world are fundamentally interconnected.
This school of thought is underpinned by two basic lines of reasoning. First, since the recognition of human rights is based in part on the philosophical belief that those rights emanate from humanity's own existence, logically, so too do inherent rights of the natural world arise from the natural world's own existence.
A second and more pragmatic argument asserts that the survival of humans depends on healthy ecosystems, and so protection of nature's rights in turn advances human rights and well-being.
Rights of Nature (Wikipedia)
From a rights of nature perspective, most environmental laws of the 20th century are based on an outmoded framework that considers nature composed of separate and independent parts, rather than components of a larger whole.
A more significant criticism is that those laws tend to be subordinate to economic interests, and aim at reacting to and just partially mitigating economics-driven degradation, rather than placing nature's right to thrive as the primary goal of those laws. This critique of existing environmental laws is an important component of tactics such as climate change litigation that seeks to force societal action to mitigate climate change.
As of May 2024, close to 500 rights of nature laws exist at the local to national levels in 40 countries, including dozens of cities and counties throughout the United States. They take the form of constitutional provisions, treaty agreements, statutes, local ordinances, and court decisions.
Rights of Nature (Wikipedia)
Critique of anthropocentric legal systems
Proponents of a shift to a more environmentally protective system of law contend that current legal and economic systems fail because they consider nature fundamentally as property, which can be degraded for profit and human desire. They point out that the perspective of nature as primarily an economic resource already has degraded some ecosystems and species so significantly that now prominent policy experts are examining "endangered species triage" strategies to decide which species will be let go rather than re-examine the economics driving the degradation.
While twentieth and twenty-first century environmental laws do afford some level of protection to ecosystems and species, it is argued that such protections fail to stop, let alone reverse, overall environmental decline, because nature is by definition subordinated to anthropogenic and economic interests rather than biocentric well-being.
Rights of Nature (Wikipedia)
While science in the late 20th century shifted to a systems-based perspective, describing natural systems and human populations as fundamentally interconnected on a shared planet, environmental laws generally did not evolve with this shift.
Reductionist U.S. environmental laws passed in the early 1970s remained largely unchanged, and other national and international environmental law regimes similarly stopped short of embracing the modern science of systems.
Nineteenth century linguist and scholar Edward Payson Evans, an early rights of nature theorist and author of "the first extensive American statement of environmental ethics," wrote that each human is "truly a part and product of Nature as any other animal, and [the] attempt to set him up on an isolated point outside of it is philosophically false and morally pernicious."
Rights of Nature (Wikipedia)
Scientists who similarly wrote in support of expanded human moral development and ethical obligation include naturalist John Muir and scientist and forester Aldo Leopold.
Aldo Leopold was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist, and a professor at the University of Wisconsin.
He was influential in the development of modern environmental ethics and in the movement for wilderness conservation. His ethics of nature and wildlife preservation had a profound impact on the environmental movement, with his ecocentric or holistic ethics regarding land. He emphasized biodiversity and ecology and was a founder of the science of wildlife management. He felt that we needed to "see land as a community to which we belong" rather than as "a commodity belonging to us."
Rights of Nature
Garn (Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature)
Neoclassical (AI)
The Neoclassical view of nature emphasized a rational, ordered, and mechanical universe governed by universal laws, akin to a machine, a perspective influenced by 18th-century science like Newtonian physics. This contrasted sharply with the Romantic view, which found nature to be alive, irrational, and a source of wonder and emotion.
Neoclassical principles also promoted the idea of an ordered and controlled natural world, often reflected in meticulously designed landscapes and balanced artistic compositions that prioritized reason and form over wildness.
Neoclassical
Key Characteristics of the Neoclassical View of Nature
Neoclassicism saw nature as a logical and organized system, functioning according to predictable laws that could be understood through human reason and scientific observation.
Inspired by scientific discoveries, nature was viewed as a vast, intricate machine, a mechanical universe, that operated with a predictable regularity, similar to the universe described by Isaac Newton.
In this view, nature was often considered "dead" matter, devoid of independent spirit or emotion, and its beauty lay in its perfect form and adherence to mathematical and logical principles.
There was an emphasis on nature's subservience to man and reason, reflecting the Enlightenment's focus on human control and subordination of the natural world.
Romantic
Romantic poets viewed nature as a living entity and a source of inspiration, spiritual renewal, and emotional reflection, emphasizing its power, beauty, and mystery, often in contrast to the perceived artificiality of the Industrial Revolution.
They believed nature could offer profound emotional healing and philosophical contemplation, fostering a deep, authentic connection between humanity and the environment. Poets like Wordsworth found serenity in nature, while others like Coleridge explored its wilder, sublime aspects, using nature as a mirror for the human soul.
Romantic
Key Aspects of Nature in Romantic Poetry
Nature was a powerful muse, offering poets vivid imagery and inspiring profound emotional responses, acting as a mirror for their inner lives.
Romantics saw nature as a profound source of wisdom and truth, a way to gain insight into the human condition and the universe itself.
Nature represented purity, innocence, and a natural order that contrasted sharply with the perceived corruption and artificiality of the burgeoning Industrial Revolution.
The Sublime and the Beautiful: Poets like Coleridge and Shelley explored the "sublime"—nature's overwhelming, awe-inspiring, and sometimes terrifying aspects—which could humble humanity and provoke deep reflection. Others, like Wordsworth, focused on the beautiful and tranquil aspects of nature, believing in its restorative and peaceful qualities.
In a sense, the Romantic movement's philosophy was to return to nature, advocating for a harmonious relationship with the natural world to counter the spiritual alienation caused by societal changes.
Is a River Alive?—parts
Is a River Alive? flows like water from the mountains to the sea, over three major journeys:
The first is to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened with destruction by gold-mining.
The second is to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.
The third is to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.
Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream who rises a mile from Macfarlane’s house, and flows through his own years and days.
Introduction: Anima
In the introduction: Anima, Macfarlane includes this image:
Hold the map of your country in your mind. Imagine it now entirely blacked out except for the rivers and streams: these alone are present. Let them glow in vivid colors – blue and green, scarlet and violet. A new topography leaps to the eye.
The land is suddenly intricately veined. Ridgelines show as dark, wandering absences; catchments gather fine filaments of water, braid them expertly into threads, ropes.
Tilt – and zoom in. The pattern repeats, then repeats again with each scale-shift: a fractal branching of tributaries and channels, fronds and stems. It resembles the vascular system. It resembles a neural network. Everyone lives in a watershed. (p. 23).
Part 1: “The River of the Cedars (Ecuador)”
In Part 1, Macfarlane embarks on a journey to the cloud-forests of northern Ecuador to explore fundamental questions about whether rivers and forests are alive. His expedition centers on Los Cedros, a threatened cloud-forest that became the focus of a groundbreaking legal case establishing rights of nature in constitutional law.
He travels with César, a Colombian lawyer dedicated to social justice who spent years fighting for both indigenous rights and the rights of nature across the Trans-Amazonian region.
Cosmo is a versatile musician and field recordist who sought to capture the acoustic landscape of the forest.
Giuliana Furci is a mycologist specializing in Chilean fungi who hoped to locate previously undiscovered mushroom species that could strengthen legal protections for Los Cedros.
The chapter provides historical context for understanding Los Cedros’s significance. In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to enshrine Rights of Nature in its constitution. It included significant input from Indigenous communities that recognize all beings in nature as living entities deserving respect.
Part 1: “The River of the Cedars (Ecuador)”
Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer, contributed an influential essay arguing that while society readily accepts corporations as having rights comparable to humans, it finds the idea of rivers and forests having rights strange and unacceptable.
Macfarlane provides detailed descriptions of cloud-forest ecology to illustrate why these environments are both precious and fragile. Cloud-forests form at high altitudes where humid air creates persistent mist, reducing sunlight and retaining moisture within the forest system. This creates conditions for extraordinary biodiversity, with Los Cedros containing species densities that rival any ecosystem on Earth. The forest functions as a “water forest,” where plants growing on other plants collect moisture from mist through a process called “fog-drop.” This gentle, constant water production maintains river flow even during dry periods, demonstrating the intimate connection between forest and river systems. The loss of cloud-forest directly leads to the death of rivers, as deforestation eliminates the mist-collection system that feeds waterways.
Part 1: “The River of the Cedars (Ecuador)”
The chapter also reveals how Los Cedros faced existential threat from mining interests. In 2017, the Rainforest Information Centre discovered that the Ecuadorian government had secretly granted mining concessions covering much of the forest to foreign companies. These concessions were part of a broader pattern of environmental exploitation driven by Ecuador’s economic desperation. The country’s financial crisis, worsened by falling oil prices and crushing sovereign debt, led then-President Correa to approve numerous mining concessions in sensitive areas.
The proposed mining would have involved open-pit extraction requiring complete deforestation, road construction, and the use of toxic chemicals like sodium cyanide for gold extraction. This process would have destroyed both the forest ecosystem and poisoned the rivers flowing from it.
Part 1: “The River of the Cedars (Ecuador)”
Macfarlane situates the Los Cedros story within broader patterns of environmental destruction and resistance. He references the concept of the “Eremocene”—the age of loneliness—describing a potential future where humans exist isolated on a planet stripped of other forms of life.
The success at Los Cedros represents a counter-narrative to this trajectory, demonstrating how law, science, and Indigenous wisdom can work together to protect threatened ecosystems.
The chapter concludes with Macfarlane’s return to England, where he found the springs near his home showing signs of life after drought, and discovered that local people had begun treating them as sacred sites by tying healing cloths to nearby trees.
Macfarlane’s description of the proposed mining process—involving complete deforestation, toxic chemical leaching, and river contamination—demonstrates the logical endpoint of viewing nature solely through economic frameworks. The subsequent legal victory that protected Los Cedros through rights of nature legislation represents a fundamental shift from resource-based to rights-based approaches to environmental governance.
The theme of River as Resource versus River as Living Being manifests most clearly in the constitutional court’s recognition that mining would violate the forest’s inherent rights to exist and maintain its natural cycles, establishing legal precedent for treating ecosystems as subjects rather than objects.
Part 2 : “Ghosts, Monsters and Angels (India)”
In Part II of this book, Macfarlane travels to Chennai, India, to investigate the relationship between urban development and river systems through the lens of what he calls “ghosts, monsters, and angels.”
The ghosts represent the rivers that have been killed to enable city growth,
the monsters are the destructive forms these dead rivers take during floods and cyclones,
and the angels are the activists and naturalists working to protect and revive the waterways.
His guide on this journey is Yuvan Aves, a 27-year-old teacher, naturalist, and water activist who was abused as a child but survived, himself a symbol of the waterways.
Another theme is the ecology of drought and monsoon that characterizes India's weather and the ancient methods developed to deal with that.
The impact of British rule is another factor as is the rapid population growth.
The narrative concludes with an all-night turtle patrol to protect nesting sea turtles.
The section ends with Macfarlane's return to England and the fragile chalk stream with his son.
Part 2 : “Ghosts, Monsters and Angels (India)”
Chennai exemplifies the global urban water crisis through its three main rivers, which once supported human life for 1.5 million years; they now represent some of the most polluted water bodies in the world.
The city’s population explosion from 500,000 in 1901 to 6.5 million today has created a density crisis. This growth has resulted in an estimated 55 million liters of effluents and sewage being discharged daily into the waterways.
Scientific studies document the devastating ecological collapse: Fish species in the Cooum River declined from 49 in 1949 to zero by 2000, and mass die-offs in the Adyar estuary in 2014 and 2017 left tens of thousands of sardines and mullets too toxic for human consumption.
Macfarlane also describes the sophisticated traditional water management system that once sustained the region for thousands of years. The eri system consisted of human-constructed water tanks that allowed water to cascade between catchments during floods or redistribution periods. These structures, along with various other water storage systems, formed a comprehensive hydrological architecture adapted to the region’s extreme seasonal variations between monsoon abundance and drought scarcity.
Part 2 : “Ghosts, Monsters and Angels (India)”
Macfarlane also accompanied Yuvan and schoolchildren to India’s oldest waterbird sanctuary. This site demonstrates water’s life-making power through its support of tens of thousands of birds representing dozens of species, from painted storks and pelicans to various egrets and ibises. However, even this relatively pristine location faces threats from industrial pollution, particularly from Sun Pharma factory, which discharges toluene and other toxins into the sanctuary.
The contrast between healthy and degraded water systems became stark when they visited Ennore Creek that was literally erased from official maps in 1997 to allow unrestricted industrial development.
The narrative concludes with an all-night turtle patrol on Chennai beach, where volunteers protect nesting Olive Ridley sea turtles, an ancient species who has survived 120 million years and now faces unprecedented threats from ship strikes, ghost nets, habitat destruction, and climate change. The patrol worked to relocate turtle eggs from vulnerable beach locations to protected hatcheries.
Part 2 : “Ghosts, Monsters and Angels (India)”
This section concludes with Macfarlane’s return to England, where he visits Nine Wells Wood with his son Will during an unusually early spring. After months of heavy rain, the local springs that had nearly dried up the previous summer were flowing strongly again. Father and son launched leaf boats on the spring water and felt the physical sensation of the springs’ pulse, with Will describing it simply as “life.”
Part 3: “The Living River (Nitassinan/Canada)”
In the third section, Macfarlane and a group of others travel to eastern Canada on the remote Quebec-Labrador border. Macfarlane frames this journey as more than recreational adventure—it represents a pilgrimage to understand a river that indigenous communities and environmental groups have legally recognized as a living being with fundamental rights.
Central to the narrative is Rita, an Innu poet, activist, and traditional healer from the coastal community who spent years fighting against Hydro-Quebec’s plans to construct additional dams.
The author draws connections between this Canadian struggle and global movements recognizing rights of nature, from New Zealand’s Whanganui River to various waterways in the United States. These legal innovations represent attempts to bridge Indigenous worldviews with Western jurisprudence, creating new frameworks for environmental protection.
The narrative concludes with an epilogue set years later, as Macfarlane’s adult children scatter his ashes at the springs near Cambridge where his environmental consciousness first awakened. This circular structure connects the river journey back to earlier explorations of underground water systems, suggesting that all water is connected across time and space.
.Part 3: “The Living River (Nitassinan/Canada)”
Macfarlane details the systematic destruction of Quebec’s river systems through hydroelectric development since the 1880s. Hydro-Quebec has dammed 14 of the province’s 16 major rivers, creating vast electrical machines that generate power for distant cities while devastating local ecosystems and Indigenous communities. The James Bay project alone affected an area the size of New York state, altering regional weather patterns and displacing countless communities.
Macfarlane’s river journey itself became a meditation on the relationship between human consciousness and natural forces. Beginning at the northern end of Lac Magpie, the group faced immediate challenges: Wayne suffered severe allergic reactions to blackfly bites, while Macfarlane struggled with physical exhaustion and equipment failures during torrential rains. As they progressed from the lake’s still waters onto the river’s powerful current, Macfarlane learned to “read” water—understanding eddies, standing waves, and the deadly features like “holes” and “strainers” that can trap and kill paddlers. The physical demands of navigating major rapids like “Porcupine,” “Snow White,” and the massive “Marmite” forced Macfarlane to confront his aging body’s limitations while experiencing what he describes as a profound merging with the river’s consciousness. Both he and Wayne reported feeling “rivered”—transformed by prolonged immersion in the water’s rhythm and power.
Part 3: “The Living River (Nitassinan/Canada)”
Macfarlane details the systematic destruction of Quebec’s river systems through hydroelectric development since the 1880s. Hydro-Quebec has dammed 14 of the province’s 16 major rivers, creating vast electrical machines that generate power for distant cities while devastating local ecosystems and Indigenous communities. The James Bay project alone affected an area the size of New York state, altering regional weather patterns and displacing countless communities.
Macfarlane’s river journey itself became a meditation on the relationship between human consciousness and natural forces. Beginning at the northern end of Lac Magpie, the group faced immediate challenges: Wayne suffered severe allergic reactions to blackfly bites, while Macfarlane struggled with physical exhaustion and equipment failures during torrential rains. As they progressed from the lake’s still waters onto the river’s powerful current, Macfarlane learned to “read” water—understanding eddies, standing waves, and the deadly features like “holes” and “strainers” that can trap and kill paddlers. The physical demands of navigating major rapids like “Porcupine,” “Snow White,” and the massive “Marmite” forced Macfarlane to confront his aging body’s limitations while experiencing what he describes as a profound merging with the river’s consciousness. Both he and Wayne reported feeling “rivered”—transformed by prolonged immersion in the water’s rhythm and power.
Part 3: “The Living River (Nitassinan/Canada)”
The narrative’s climax occurs at a thunderous gorge where the river funnels through bedrock jaws with almost incomprehensible force. Standing at the edge of this natural amphitheater, Macfarlane experienced what he describes as stepping across an invisible border into a realm where normal perception breaks down. In this liminal space, surrounded by spray and deafening sound, he perceived the gorge as a vast mouth speaking in voices beyond human understanding.
The experience culminates in an epiphany about the fundamental question he came to ask the river—not about personal fears or aging, but about the nature of life itself. The river’s response transcended language, communicating through presence rather than words. Following Rita's instructions, Macfarlane tied a red thread around a tiny, ancient spruce tree growing impossibly from a crack in the bedrock—a sacred tree that embodied resistance and persistence against all odds.
The narrative concludes with an epilogue set years later, as Macfarlane’s adult children scatter his ashes at the springs near Cambridge where his environmental consciousness first awakened. This circular structure connects the river journey back to earlier explorations of underground water systems, suggesting that all water is connected across time and space.
Videos
Song of the cedars
New York Times: Postcards from a world on fire
Questions for discussion
Like Kolbert in The Sixth Extinction, Macfarlane uses narrative to tell his story, answer his question, and make his statements about our environment.
Both storytellers provide complex narratives. These stories are not just travelogues of personal adventures, challenges faced. Both weave other elements into these stories.
What are the elements of Macfarlane's narratives? And how effectively does he combine them?
Questions for discussion
At its base, this book compares two divergent points of view, or perspectives:
the corporate-industrialist-capitalist definition of nature as a commodity mankind owns and can use as he sees fit, and
the perspective of primarily indigenous cultures that perceive mankind as just one living entity within a larger connected natural world with whom they need to live respectfully and collaboratively.
Is it possible to reconcile these two perspectives?
Questions for discussion
It is indigenous peoples who revere rivers, trees, plant life, and animals as living creatures worthy of their own rights. Does the fact that this perspective originates with indigenous peoples make it less persuasive?
Questions for discussion
Clearly Macfarlane thinks of a river as a physical substance, one that has life and deserves to live, and one that has ecological importance in the sustainability of life on earth, including man. But does his concept of the river as an entity go beyond that, perhaps to spiritual, mystical, even religious significance?
Questions for discussion
What are the implications for business and industry if a Rights of Nature movement takes hold?
Questions for discussion
Is there a particular individual or story or adventure in this book that resonated with you. What will you remember from this book?
Videos
Barnes & Noble Interview (good, but long)
Facebook: Mini philosophy, Big think