Nearly 60 years ago, a self-described “awkward” teenager from Sacramento, California, named Mark Dubois, met the most powerful teacher of his life–the Stanislaus River. Mark’s relationship with the river and the influence of river defenders worldwide would ultimately help inspire the founding of International Rivers and galvanize a global movement to protect and celebrate our planet’s vital arteries and veins and challenge what Dubios refers to as “outdated neocolonial development models.” … Mark slowly got involved in efforts to save the Stanislaus. By 1973, he joined Jerry Meral, David Kay, and the public relations team Roanoke to form Friends of the River (FOR) to speak for the river and oppose the project. For Mark, his deep love affair with the life of the river was teaching him about the antiquated paradigm behind large-scale development that only values nature when it’s extracted and converted into a commodity.