Rivercide is a ground-breaking investigation into the sudden rise in the pollution of Britain’s rivers. Followed by Q&A between Franny Armstrong, Feargal Sharkey, George Monbiot, and Justin Rowlatt.

19:00 - 20:30. This event takes place in the British Library Theatre.

Rivercide is a ground-breaking investigation into the sudden rise in the pollution of Britain’s rivers. From the banks of the River Wye presenter George Monbiot finds ‘a great river dying before our eyes. The Wye is covered by every possible conservation law, but in just a few years it has spiralled towards complete ecological collapse.’ Rivercide asks who is doing this, and why we aren’t stopping them? The event features a premiere of a newly-edited version of the film, plus a live Q&A with its makers and with punk legend turned environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey.

Former pop drummer Franny Armstrong has directed three documentaries, The Age of Stupid (2009) McLibel (2005) and Drowned Out (2003). Through her company, Spanner Films, she pioneered crowd-funding, five years before Kickstarter launched. Franny has won Sheffield Doc/Fest's Inspiration Award, been named as one of the World’s Top 100 Women by the Guardian and one of London's 1,000 most influential people by The Standard. Last year she was named on BBC Woman’s Hour’s Power List.

George Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner. His latest book is Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis. George co-wrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan. A video from his 2013 TED talk, How Wolves Change Rivers, has been viewed online over 40m times. Another, on Natural Climate Solutions, co-presented with Greta Thunberg, has been watched over 60m times.

Feargal Sharkey is the Northern Irish singer widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones in the 1970s and 1980s, and for his solo works in the 1980s and 1990s. His 1985 solo single “A Good Heart” was an international success. From the early 1990s he turned his hand to various roles supporting the UK's commercial music industry, winning several awards and honours for his work in that area. He is a lifelong fly fisherman, and an active campaigner against the pollution of British rivers.

Justin Rowlatt is the BBC’s Climate Editor with over 15 years of reporting, including in-depth interviews with Greta Thunberg, Al Gore, the Dalai Lama and Bill Gates.

Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event. We are committed to the safety of our event bookers. Click here to find out how we are welcoming you to the Library safely.

This is part of our autumn season on environment, The Natural Word, which celebrates the underrepresented voices harnessing the power of imagination to change the world.

This event will not be live-streamed.

……………………………………………………………………………………….
COMPETITION: Win 1x pair of tickets to attend Rivercide screening and QA at the British Library at 19:00 on Thursday 30 September 2021.

To enter the competition, send an email to jamie@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ line. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: According to cleanriverstrust.co.uk which is the longest river in the UK? Clue: it's 220 miles long!
A: .1) River Severn .2) River Thames .3) River Ouse .4) River Trent