Wherever
you are (unless, arguably, you happen to live in the middle of a
desert) you are in a river "catchment area". When rain drops hit the
ground at your feet, they will start a long journey, aided by gravity,
to discover the path of least resistance to the sea. In the course of
their journeys, these rain drops will gather with other rain drops to
form dribbles and rivulets and streams and tributaries and, eventually
rivers. Apart from however else you may describe yourself in terms of
nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, even species, what you also
and primarily are is a citizen of your river catchment area.
You
won't receive a passport or a membership card or a free prayer book or
even a letter of congratulation, because river citizenship is not as
yet acknowledged by world economic and political powers. However, as a
responsible human of the planet Earth, you still have some privileges
and quite a few obligations.
First among the obligations are its
care…. In these times of consumptive madness, little heed is
paid
to the dumping of effluent, the manipulating of flow, even, in some
cases, the disappearance of rivers altogether. River
citizenship
involves working with fellow citizens to protect the interests of the
river for eternity.
Another obligation is to discover the oldest
known name of the river and refer to both the river and your river
nation by that name at all times and to campaign for the most ancient
aboriginal name to be restored.
This is not a government or
corporate initiative. This is a people's initiative. You don't need
anybody's authorisation to declare your river citizenship. You just do
it and take up your rights and responsibilities as you see fit.
Political/geographical boundaries should be defined exclusively by
river Catchment Areas.
Want to participate?
You
can start simply by sending an email telling us the name of your
nearest river. We will make an entry on the developing River
Nations database.
If you can also include the names of the rivers via which your river
connects to the sea, even better.
And
if you can add descriptions and/or any historical information about
your river, even better still. This project relies primarily
on
informational contributions from individuals from around the globe.
Please don't hesitate to email us your text. All authors are
credited.
If you'd like to see an example of the sort of thing we're looking for,
here is one of the better
examples to date.
But even just a paragraph will do for starters.