GoKawiilIs a River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane Penguin (2026)
Switch off your headlamp in Ecuador’s Los Cedros cloud forest and the darkness begins to glow. The fallen branches and tree stumps shine a soft yellow-silver, lit by webs of fungus beneath the forest floor. It’s an arresting opening to writer Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive? — a slim, lyrical book that revisits an old question with fresh urgency. His answer is a clear, resounding yes.
Macfarlane follows three threatened rivers: the Río Los Cedros in Ecuador’s cloud forest, under pressure from gold mining; the creeks of Chennai, India, where waters, alive with bird life at their source, become polluted as they approach the city; and Mutehekau Shipu (the Magpie River) in Quebec, Canada, which has been granted legal personhood by local governments.
I didn’t expect a book on water to breathe life into my own vocation. I have spent my career as a space environmentalist arguing that Earth’s orbit is not a void but a fragile ecosystem — a shared commons that we are filling, fragmenting and abandoning, in exactly how, as Macfarlane shows, we treat rivers. This book reinforced my belief that stewardship begins not with measurement, but with the decision to grant a thing its aliveness: to treat it as kin. — Moriba Jah
My Head for a Tree
Martin Goodman Profile (2025)
Would you give your life to save a tree? Probably not. But you might be surprised to know that there are people in India who would. This book opens in 1730, with a striking account of members of the Bishnoi community embracing trees marked for felling and being killed by soldiers of the Maharajah of Jodhpur. Their extraordinary sacrifice stems from the teachings of their guru, Jambhoji, whose 29 principles — many centred on living in harmony with nature — still guide the community.
The Bishnoi people invited writer Martin Goodman to tell their story — a privilege he does not take lightly. He entwines centuries-old episodes with present-day experiences, showing how the Bishnoi’s conservation ethic has endured.
There are tensions, of course. As one member of the community puts it: “I work in agriculture. I have a petrol pump. And I do social service. Service for animals and khejri trees.” It’s a reminder that the Bishnoi relationship with nature is not simple or pure, but a blend of conservation and compromise.
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