This is Not a Poisson d'avril: The Rivers May Not Run Much Longer

Thinking about contact between humans and nature, particularly with the world's big rivers.  Kept coming across the important role they played in the peopling of the world, as highways for travel and as sources of food. 

Two things stand out today, April Fool's Day, which in French is Poisson d'avril:

First, that we've made a mess of most of them by dumping our waste in them.

Second, many are going to disappear due to climate change. Those rising in the mountains where glaciers are melting are particularly at risk, as are those of California where the fourth year of drought has reduced the snow pack to practically nothing in the Sierras.