Confluence: A River, the Environment, Politics and the Fate of All Humanity

by Nathaniel Tripp

This book is a true confluence of art and science, politics and pragmatism, ideas and plans for action. It highlights the ways in which rivers connect us all to one another. While our society has made great progress in terms of local environmental improvement, such as cleaner water, we’re still dodging the big issues, such as global warming. We have lost the vision of our planet gained in 1969 when astronauts sent back photographs taken from the moon.

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2006

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An environmental treatise that doesn't slam you over the head, this is the book to give your friends who are on the fence over such issues. Reading at times more like a work of literature, this is a simple explanation of why more must be done to conserve our rivers.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is sort of a meditation on the Connecticut River and its ecosystem, and the relationship of humans to the river over time, and the death of various ways of life in rural New England. It's odd - I just read a history of the river that only dealt with the part that runs through Connecticut, and now this book essentially only deals with the part of the river in Vermont and New Hampshire, with Conn playing practically no role at all. Tripp lingers on the headwaters, writing about the beaver ponds and small farms up near the Quebec border where the river begins.
A lot of this isn't really about the river, though, but rather about hydropower and anti-big government people and the way dams have screwed up and continue to screw up river systems. This leads Tripp to departures from the river, including sections about the Cree and their troubles with power companies up near Hudson's Bay, about a right wing zealot who murdered a bunch of people in New Hampshire in the 90s, about Howard Dean (a friend of Tripp) and his governorship of Vermont. There is also a lot about the whole project of bringing back salmon to the river system and whether it could possibly ever work.
I'm not sure what the point of it all is, besides that we have kind of wrecked the river and that sucks. I mean, I would love for all the dams to go away too, but I don't think there's much chance of that happening.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a comprehensive look at the Connecticut River, but a short engaging one. Tripp takes on the politics and ecology of the Connecticut River with special focus on hydro-power companies, the salmon who face a nearly impossible journey to spawn past dams that supply power, and the local and regional personalities that argue over the use of the river. Similar conclusions to other environmental books I've read ("the riverkeepers"), but no less important.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

say goodbye to all if we keep letting the free-market, neo-liberal mentality rule the day in this country. They do not have the answers. Howard Dean, former VT governor writes an elegant introduction.