Friends of the Cam's River Festival in Robert Macfarlane's 'Is A River Alive?'

Robert Macfarlane writes about his experience of Friends of the Cam’s river festival and declaration in his new book ‘Is A River Alive?’

“On Midsummer Eve in that drought-struck summer of 2022, I joined about a hundred people on the banks of the Cam - the river who flows through my home city and who is fed by the springs that rise near my home. The light that hot afternoon was syrupy and golden, the grass tawny from weeks of hard heat. The air was kiln-dry, and it was obvious to all that the river was sick. Sweat crawled down us and the river crawled by us, its waters low and greasy. Weed trailed lanky along its surface like hanks of hair.

Together, we read aloud a Declaration of the Rights of the River Cam - as if just saying might make it so: We declare that the River Cam and its tributaries have the right to flow and be free from over-abstraction, the right to be free from pollution…Partway through, I had to stop speaking. I was overwhelmed by hope and futility. It was a mixture of a potency I’d never experienced before - and it silenced me.”

Be part of this remarkable festival, now in its 5th year. We look forward to seeing many of you join in our collective commitment to protecting the Cam, its river system and the life associated with it, and celebrate with poetry, song, music, art and talks.