Reading A Book To A River

Is a river alive? I tried out my own thought experiment by reading Rob McFarlane‘s incredible book out loud to the beautiful, rushing Quindío river in Colombia. 💙✨🪩🦦🏞️💙

It was an act more for myself, as a way to care for a river and solidify my opinion that yes, in its own way a river is alive and should have a right to thrive.

In my downtime during and after Cine En Las Montañas Film Festival, where I screened Rave On for the Avon and ran workshops with emerging filmmakers and conservationists, I sat by the river, watched colourful birds fly by and tried not to feel too self-conscious!

I would highly recommend this book which tells the history of the rights of nature movement and introduces beautifully to the reader, rivers and river-guardians around the world. It felt particularly special to read about Rob’s journey to Rio Los Cedros who runs through a cloud forest in Ecuador. This river, along with the Los Cedros cloud forest, was granted legal recognition as a living entity with rights by the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court, preventing mining activities that would have harmed it. Cloud forests are rare and very special places with high biodiversity.

Quindío River in Colombia runs through a cloud forest “Bosque de Niebla” in the Cocora Valley. After the festival I had the privilege to hike, swim and birdwatch along this river up to the cloud forest, tears pouring down my face as I saw a hummingbirds zip around this luscious space. Rivers are integral parts of the incredible ecosystems that keep us alive and I hope to live my life to be a part of nature living reciprocally and joyfully.

Do you have a moment to spend reading a book like this to a river?

To quote Rob‘s incredible book

To call a river alive is not to personify a river but to further deepen and widen the category of “life.

I’ll be sharing more about the screening and workshops soon, with some lovely perspectives from conservationists who love and work hard to protect the special part of Colombia. 💙✨🪩🏞️🦦🍿