1. Civilisation
The first story I was told about rivers can be summed up like this: there is direct line from the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur to the Chrysler Building. I was around nine.
2. Civilisation II
Rivers allowed us to grow food, store it, build houses, libraries, museums, cities and empires. I was maybe ten when I heard this one.
You can read the rest of this piece on the Dark Mountain site here.
Tags: connection with nature, environmental degradation, environmental restoration projects, rivers
Related Articles
'SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id)
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.ID NOT IN (3469406) AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (3,5,8988,8990)
) AND wp_posts.post_type = \'post\' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = \'publish\'))
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
LIMIT 0, 3'
By Alex Leff, Human Nature Odyssey
You, me, and everyone we know were born on the Titanic. Some are shouting about icebergs. Some are shoveling coal into the furnaces. Some are jamming out while the band plays louder than ever. In this special episode Alex reviews the odyssey thus far.
June 4, 2026
By Bill Baue, Bill Baue Substack
This chapter from r3.0’s latest Seeds Series explores how societies can move beyond extractive economic systems by embracing systems thinking, place-based resilience and regenerative approaches to food, energy and community development.
June 4, 2026
By Tom Murphy, Do the Math
Why do people with access to the same facts arrive at radically different conclusions about the future? Physicist Tom Murphy reflects on an impasse with Dave Murphy over modernity, ecological limits and humanity’s place in the living world.
June 3, 2026