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We Are The Riverkeepers
What if every river - no matter where you traveled - was clean enough to swim in, drink from, and sustain life?
We Are The Riverkeepers is a powerful new podcast dedicated to protecting and celebrating the world’s waterways. Created with Richmond Riverkeeper Association and hosted by Presenter, Author and Storyteller Mel Bampton, this series dives into the essential role rivers play - not just in our ecosystems, but in our lives, our stories, and our survival.
Through thorough conversations with environmentalists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, artists, and activists, we explore both the beauty and the urgency of river protection. From the tributaries of the Richmond River to the great arteries of the world, we ask:
If the rivers could speak, what would they say?
This podcast goes beyond environmentalism to reveal how the health of our rivers is deeply connected to our emotional, social, physical, and cultural well-being. Clean rivers support biodiversity, secure drinking water, food supply, recreation, and climate resilience. They also offer something more intangible: a sense of place, purpose, and spiritual connection.
In a world facing ecological crisis, We Are The Riverkeepers brings hope, action, and connection. We’re amplifying the voices of those on the front lines of river protection and inviting everyone - you included - to join us in the riverkeeping revolution.
You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers.
Join us:
Listen, Rate, Review and Subscribe.
Follow @RichmondRiverkeeper
Follow @melbampton_
This podcast has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority's Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program 2022-23. Delivered by North Coast Regional Landcare Network through the Caring for Catchments project.
Let’s work together, to make rivers swimmable, fishable and drinkable, worldwide. You, me, We Are The Riverkeepers
Episodes
9 episodes
How We Ended Up Here with Adele Wessell
Associate Professor of History, Adele Wessell approaches the river a little differently. Having lived in the Northern Rivers for 30 years and teaching history at Southern Cross University over that time, she’s developed a multi-layered relation...
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Connect To Protect with Marc Yaggi
Marc Yaggi is a man brimming with stories. As the Chief Executive Officer of Waterkeeper Alliance, an organisation based in New York but with members and allies all over the globe, Marc serves as a leading voice for a global movemen...
The River Runs Through Our Veins with Mitch King
Mitch King is a Yaegl Bundjalung multi-disciplinary artist with deep connections to the rivers that grew him and his ancestors up. As a story teller he has translated this thread of connection – the rivers that run through his homelands, the cr...
Following The River Home with Ella Bancroft
Is there a relationship between unwell minds and unwell rivers? Is there a connection between crime and corrupted waterways?Ella Bancroft is a poet, an advocate, an activist, a potent voice full of vigour, love and fury. Most of all Ell...
Living with Risk: Life Beside The River with Elly Bird
The aftermath of catastrophic flooding reveals our deepest relationship with rivers. When waters rise unexpectedly, destroying homes and livelihoods, how do communities rebuild not just physically, but emotionally? Elly Bird, former Lismore Cit...
Ocean Lovers, Why It's Time To Look Upstream with Zoe White
This is a podcast about rivers, so why are we talking about the ocean? Well, let’s just say – one thing leads to another. Is it inevitable when someone falls so deeply in love with the ocean, that love will eventually lead them upst...
What Role Does Ceremony Play In River Health with Saundi McClain-Kloeckener and Tess Eckert
Saundi is a member of the Native Women's Care Circle, a grassroots prayer group based in what is now known as St. Louis, Mo. She is of Cherokee and African American descent. Saundi has taken part in many prayer walks and has suppor...
How Rivers Connect Us To Past, Present And Each Other with Rhoda Roberts
Rhoda Roberts is from a long-line of patient, powerful First Nations people, innovators and advocates, who have created newspapers, radio, cultural and healing hubs, spaces and services to overcome the profound and ongoing impacts of colonisati...
What The Richmond River Can Teach Us with Prof. Amanda Reichelt-Brushett
When humans harm the rivers, how does that in turn harm humans? What can we do to turn the tides on unhealthy rivers and make them places again to play, fish, work and enjoy?Prof. Amanda Reichelt-Brushett has spent 3 decades studying on...