Gregory Cushman | The University of Arizona (original) (raw)

Books w/ reviews by Gregory Cushman

Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

El guano, las aves y las islas guaneras han jugado un papel inmenso en nuestra historia desde la ... more El guano, las aves y las islas guaneras han jugado un papel inmenso en nuestra historia desde la época precolombina; así, los antiguos peruanos consideraban esas islas, los seres que las habitaban y los excrementos que las cubrían como sagrados y dignos de ser venerados. A mediados del siglo XIX, el guano irrumpió en el mundo como materia prima agrícola, en el momento álgido de la era de la mercantilización. En Perú se suele ver esta Edad del Guano como una época de oportunidades perdidas; no obstante, aún queda mucho que aprender de la «falaz prosperidad» que precedió al megafenómeno El Niño de 1877-1878. Sin embargo, el autor sostiene que el excremento de estas aves marinas proporcionó al país otro tipo de portal para entender la conexión de la historia del Perú con el océano Pacífico y con los pueblos y naciones del «Mundo del Pacífico» durante la era moderna. Así, Cushman explica que el libro se fundamenta en interconexiones de los campos de la historia ambiental y mundial, por lo que los lectores encontrarán temas que incluyen no solo el análisis de naciones como la peruana o la chilena relacionadas con la explotación del fertilizante y su comercialización, sino de los grandes países industralizados y la relación de todos ellos con el medioambiente. Sin duda, una monumental invetigación que cubre un gran vacío en la literatura especializada.

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

El señor del guano En 1847, en una desolada isla barrida por el viento, frente a la desierta cost... more El señor del guano En 1847, en una desolada isla barrida por el viento, frente a la desierta costa central de Perú, un minero de guano desenterró una extraña tabla de piedra oculta bajo cinco metros y medio de excremento de ave acumulado (fig. 1.1). Durante la época de esplendor de la exportación del guano, en el siglo XIX-que terminó por transformar la relación del mundo moderno con el océano Pacífico, las tierras de cultivo y las aves marinas-los mineros descubrieron cientos de antiguos artefactos indígenas en las islas guaneras de Perú. Entre estos, hallaron objetos de oro y plata, esculturas de madera, cerámica, tejidos exquisitos, cuerpos decapitados e incluso un pingüino momificado enterrados bajo montañas de hasta veinte metros del fertilizante natural más rico del mundo. Un artefacto como este, sin embargo, no se volvió a hallar jamás. 1 El explorador sudamericano William Bollaert se enteró del descubrimiento y publicó un breve artículo en una revista popular, acompañado de un dibujo detallado de esta «curiosa piedra» con «singulares marcas de armería». El autor aventuró que «quizás haya venido de la vieja España, tal vez para ser colocada sobre el umbral de una propiedad del antiguo dueño de la isla». 2 Inspirado por el creciente interés de los ecólogos estadounidenses en las aves guaneras de Perú-fascinación que tuvo gran influencia en los principios del movimiento ambientalista del final del siglo XX-George Kubler, historiador del arte de la Universidad de Yale, trató de volver a localizar el artefacto, sin éxito, a mediados de los años cuarenta. Debido a que la tabla provenía claramente de la época inmediatamente posterior a la conquista española, Kubler tenía esperanzas de utilizarla como punto de referencia en la elaboración de una cronología absoluta de los estilos artísticos prehispánicos hallados bajo las capas inferiores de las islas guaneras. Sin embargo, el artefacto no aparecía por ningún lado. En 2006, con la ayuda de catálogos computarizados, miembros del British Museum hallaron y fotografiaron la tabla de piedra, escondida, como si fuese la legendaria Arca de la Alianza de Indiana Jones, en el complejo de depósitos del museo. Hasta este punto, nadie se había tomado el esfuerzo de leer la inscripción ni nadie había sospechado, mucho menos, qué conocimientos podía aportar a la historia recóndita de la relación de la humanidad con el mar y el excremento de las aves. Dice así: don pedro guanneque prinsipal del valle de [c]hincha A partir de la forma y el contenido de su escritura gótica, podemos concluir que esta cota de armas perteneció a un noble indígena que vivió durante el siglo XVI.

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

2 LA EDAD DEL GUANO «God's gift Guano spread; the poorest soil / With smiling crops Free-Traders'... more 2 LA EDAD DEL GUANO «God's gift Guano spread; the poorest soil / With smiling crops Free-Traders' aim will spoil. / Well fed, well clothed, well housed, we need not fear, / Should Praties fail or Cholera appear» (El guano, regalo de Dios, se esparce / Los suelos más hambrientos con sus henchidas cosechas malograrán el comercio libre / Con comida, ropas, techo y sin el miedo / Si fallan las papas o el cólera venga de nuevo, no importa.

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

Año del señor 1621. Entonces, la enfermedad cayó sobre [nosotros] y el clima era tan malo que no ... more Año del señor 1621. Entonces, la enfermedad cayó sobre [nosotros] y el clima era tan malo que no pudimos hacer ningún despacho […] Luego, (todos los que pudieron) empezaron a plantar maíz, en lo que Squanto fue muy servicial […] Y les dijo que, a menos que consiguieran pescado y lo pusieran (en estas antiguas tierras), no saldría nada, y les mostró […] dónde obtener otras provisiones necesarias […] Lo que hizo que, luego, muchos escribieran sobre la plenitud que hay aquí a sus amigos en Inglaterra.

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

4. ¿DÓNDE ESTÁ BANABA? ¿Dónde está Banaba? Banaba está por toda Australia, por Nueva Zelanda y to... more 4. ¿DÓNDE ESTÁ BANABA? ¿Dónde está Banaba? Banaba está por toda Australia, por Nueva Zelanda y todos los lugares del mundo. La usaron como fosfato. Entonces, ¿dónde está mi país? ¿Dónde está mi isla?-Raobeia 'Ken' Sigrah (1997) En 1956, Raobeia Sigrah nació en Rabi, 1 una isla volcánica cubierta de plantas en el archipiélago de Fiyi. No podemos controlar dónde nacemos, quiénes son nuestros padres, ni cómo se nos cría, pero estos hechos no le impidieron a Raobeia Sigrah resentir profundamente su origen. Sus padres, como muchas generaciones antes de ellos, habían nacido en un pequeño atolón ecuatorial que llamaban Banaba, abreviación de ubanabannang o 'tierra de roca'. 2 En 1900, como extensión de los esfuerzos imperialistas descritos en el capítulo anterior, algunos extranjeros se dieron cuenta de repente de que Banaba poseía reservas enormes de fosfato de alta calidad. Este descubrimiento desató una lucha épica entre el pueblo originario de Banaba y los colonizadores neoeuropeos que terminó con el reasentamiento de los banabenses en Rabi a 2075 kilómetros al sudeste.

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

del Guano […] opera la mayor de todas las industrias basadas en la conservación de animales salva... more del Guano […] opera la mayor de todas las industrias basadas en la conservación de animales salvajes.

De 1600 a 1867, la población de Japón se estabilizó, aparentemente, en alrededor de 26.000.000 ha... more De 1600 a 1867, la población de Japón se estabilizó, aparentemente, en alrededor de 26.000.000 habitantes. […] Poco tiempo después de que los estadounidenses abrieran la puerta, la población de Japón empezó a crecer en una tasa mayor al uno por ciento anual. […] Los japoneses ya tenían un estándar de vida mucho menor al de Occidente. A medida que crecía la población, se vieron en la disyuntiva de bajar el estándar de vida aún más o de expandir los medios para alimentar a la gente. […]

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

Necesidad de afianzar el respecto de las declaraciones de los estados sobre sus respectivos mares... more Necesidad de afianzar el respecto de las declaraciones de los estados sobre sus respectivos mares territoriales, como un medio de defender sus recursos naturales marinos». En Revista de Biología

For centuries, guano and the birds that produce it have played a pivotal role in the cultural act... more For centuries, guano and the birds that produce it have played a pivotal role in the cultural activities of indigenous peoples in Latin America and Oceania. As the populations of North American and European powers ballooned during the Industrial Revolution, they came to depend on this unique resource as well. They did so to help meet their ever-increasing farming needs and imperial aspirations, until the Pacific's fertilizer supplies were appropriated by developmentalists in Peru, Japan, Australia, and other postcolonial states. This book explores how the production, commodification, and cultural impact of guano, nitrates, phosphates, coconuts, and fishmeal have shaped the modern Pacific Basin and the world's relationship to the region. Marrying traditional methods of historical analysis with a broad interdisciplinary approach, Gregory T. Cushman casts these once little-known commodities as engines of Western industrialization, offering new insight into uniquely modern developments such as the growth of environmental consciousness; conservation and cleanliness movements; the ascendance of science, technology, and expertise; international geopolitics; colonialism; and world war.

Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

Los señores del guano: Una historia ecológica global del Pacífico. Revised and expanded edition. Translated by Juan Rodríguez Piñeiro. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2018

World War n represented a watershed for the meteorological profession, both in terms of its geogr... more World War n represented a watershed for the meteorological profession, both in terms of its geographical expansion and the multiplication of its membership. The war provided enterprising scientists with the opportunity to establish new centers of action for teaching and research. Not least among these acts was the recruitment of Jacob Bjerknes to form a new meteorology program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His arrival in North America culminated a decade during which scientists trained by the "Scandinavian school" founded in the late 1910s in Bergen, Norway, successfully colonized practically all of the academic centers for meteorology in the United States and Canada.

Environmental scientists in Peru first attached the moniker 'El Niño' in 1891 to a warm current r... more Environmental scientists in Peru first attached the moniker 'El Niño' in 1891 to a warm current running counter to the highly variable, but generally north-flowing Peru Current. Torrential rains along the normally arid northern Peruvian coast and catastrophic floods in many parts of the country captured the attention of a group of professionals incorporated by the newly founded Sociedad Geográfica de Lima (est. 1888). One member of this group, the naval hydrographer Camilo N. Carrillo (1830-1900), noticed that the weak countercurrent known by artisanal fishermen to appear during the austral summer along the northern coast was particularly strong that year. This was just one of several phenomena that they associated with this exceptional climate event. To keep track of such changes, the Sociedad organized a network of meteorological observers, including a station in Lima that has since been in more-or-less continuous existence. As part of such duties, the politician Víctor Eguiguren compiled and published the regional oral tradition of similar climate anomalies in northern Peru since 1791. In 1895, Federico Pezet presented a digest of this work at the Sixth International Geographical Congress in London that underscored the links between this contracorriente El Niño and torrential rains in the northern department of Piura. 1 In short, the 'El Niño phenomenon' as a scientific category was born in the early 1890s. But it was seen as little more than a regional geographical curiosity by foreign scientists for many years. El Niño burst onto the international scientific scene soon after the next major event in 1925-1926, thanks in large part to the work of a single scientific traveler, the U.S. ornithologist and conservationist Robert Cushman Murphy (1887-1973). He happened to be in Peru studying marine birds when this event struck. Like any good environmental scientist, Murphy was not satisfied with his own limited perceptions, and he rapidly organized an observation network to investigate this noteworthy climate anomaly. For this purpose, he relied mainly on reports from resident U.S. engineers,

tutes to the dominant world history narrative. She advocates a thematic approach to world history... more tutes to the dominant world history narrative. She advocates a thematic approach to world history and provides a thumbnail sketch of what a global of history of jazz might look like. She contends that this unconventional approach would make Latin America more prominent: "Jazz is a good example of a thematic world history that respects Latin America because so much of the musical exchange provoking and fueling the developments we now call jazz took place south of the Rio Grande and along the border zones within the United States proper." 22 Steven Topik's teaching and scholarship on the global history of coffee is an example of the thematic approach that Seigel advocates. 23 Articles in this edition of WHB also make Latin America more prominent by utilizing a strategy that is the antithesis of creating totally new narratives in world history. Ben Leeming's provocative piece on the ancient Americas is the most clear-cut example of this alternative approach, which is the third type of decentering mentioned above. Leeming does not advocate creating a novel story, but rather making Latin America more prominent in the traditional one. He proposes including Peru "as the location of a fifth early complex society alongside those of Sumner, Egypt, Harappa, and China." Currently the Peruvian site is overlooked, as Leeming's review of leading world history textbooks clearly indicates. Leeming's case for including the Peruvian site revolves around queries about the timing and nature of Peruvian societies: when did Peruvian early societies form and how complex were they? He makes a compelling case for including Peru as the fifth early complex society, which is based on an informative discussion of recent research by experts in the field. Rick Warner's short but stimulating essay also makes a strong argument for giving Latin America more visibility in the traditional world history narrative. Warner's topic is important cities in transnational exchange. He laments that "Panama City rarely makes the list of cosmopolitan stopovers in the first half of our modern world history surveys." He makes his case for including Panama based on the city's significant role in the transatlantic silver trade. Along with making Panama an important site in the international economy, silver attracted a colorful cast of cosmopolitan characters-among them pirates-to the city. Recent scholarship published in other places also enhances Latin America's place in world history by giving the region a more prominent place in a typical narrative. Work by Carlos Marichal on international debt and finance is a case in point. One of his earlier studies showed that while nineteenth century global financial crises usually originated in Europe, at times they started in Latin America (specifically Argentina). 24 In a more recent study of colonial international finances he elevated New Spain to the level of "sub-empire" within the Spanish colonial system since much of Spain's overseas expansion into the Spanish Caribbean was financed with Mexican silver. 25 Jaime Rodríguez's work on Latin American independence also bolsters the importance of the region by showing the resilience of political democracy. 26 Finally, Kenneth Pomeranz's The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy elevates Latin America's importance by underscoring the importance of the region to Europe's Industrial Revolution.

This chapter was awarded the 2001 Michael Robinson Award of the Public Works Historical Society.

This is the published version, made available in KU ScholarWorks with the permission of the publi... more This is the published version, made available in KU ScholarWorks with the permission of the publisher.

Hispanic American Historical Review, 2019

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, 2017

Agrarian societies in Latin America and the Caribbean have accomplished some of the most importan... more Agrarian societies in Latin America and the Caribbean have accomplished some of the most important and influential innovations in agricultural knowledge and practice in world history—both ancient and modern. These enabled indigenous civilizations in Mesoamerica and the Andes to attain some of the highest population densities and levels of cultural accomplishment of the premodern world. During the colonial era, produce from the region’s haciendas, plantations, and smallholdings provided an essential ecological underpinning for the development of the world’s first truly global networks of trade. From the 18th to the early 20th century, the transnational activities of agricultural improvers helped turn the region into one of the world’s primary exporters of agricultural commodities. This was one of the most tangible outcomes of the Enlightenment and early state-building efforts in the hemisphere. During the second half of the 20th century, the region provided a prime testing ground for...

Osiris, 2011

The belief that human land use is capable of causing large-scale climatic change lies at the root... more The belief that human land use is capable of causing large-scale climatic change lies at the root of modern conservation thought and policy. The origins and popularization of this belief were deeply politicized. Alexander von Humboldt's treatment of the Lake Valencia basin in Venezuela and the desert coast of Peru as natural laboratories for observing the interaction between geophysical and cultural forces was central to this discovery, as was Humboldt's belief that European colonialism was especially destructive to the land. Humboldt's overt cultivation of disciples was critical to building the prestige of this discovery and popularizing the Humboldtian scientific program, which depended fundamentally on local observers, but willfully marginalized chorographic knowledge systems. In creating new, global forms of environmental understanding, Humboldtian science also generated new forms of ignorance.

Environmental History, 2005

The American Historical Review, 2013

Environmental History, 2014

's preface opens with some bold claims. He suggests that the Black Death, the African Slave Trade... more 's preface opens with some bold claims. He suggests that the Black Death, the African Slave Trade, the Second World War and the harvesting of bird excrement deposits from islands in the Pacific oceans were of equal importance in world history. The Peruvian Government's efforts to conserve guano birds were central in the development of Aldo Leopold's ecological thinking, while the extraction of huge quantities of guano from small Pacific islands enabled the rapid development of Australia and New Zealand's economies. The opening pages foreshadow this impressively vast book, which follows guano through time and space and intertwines environmental, social, intellectual, economic and climate histories with the history of colonialism, science, migration and global development. The book spans the 19th century, and most of the 20th, and links the history of Peru, Banaba, Easter Island, the Christmas Islands and numerous other islands in the Pacific Ocean with the history of Britain, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Cushman extends Alfred Crosby's ecological imperialism thesis, by demonstrating that the creation of neo-European agro-ecological systems in North America and Australasia were only sustained through the mass transfers of soil nutrients, mostly sourced from exploited regions in the Pacific world. As if these topics were not ambitious enough, Cushman also traces the influence of technocratic governance and neo-Malthusianism at both the national (Peruvian) and global scales. The book is all the more noteworthy as, despite the massive breadth of the it's subject matter, Cushman remains attentive to the people in this history. The book introduces numerous individuals, from explorers, scientific experts, technocrats and colonial administrators through to the workers who mined the guano, nitrates and phosphates and members of the island nations displaced by the mining. All round, this is one of the most impressive books published in the emerging field of global environmental history. Leading environmental historians, including J. R. McNeill, an editor of the series in which this book is published, have been calling for a global turn in recent years. They argue that many environmental problems extend well beyond the local, regional and national scales upon which most environmental histories focus. Moreover, the ideas and technologies that have influenced our relationships with the environment were just as transnational as the water pollution, acid rain and carbon emissions that regularly ignored national boundaries. There is much to be gained by situating local and regional environmental histories within a

A Global Ecological History, 2000

, these Creoles engineered their own "cultural revolution" in the colonies. 9 Rehr's initiatives ... more , these Creoles engineered their own "cultural revolution" in the colonies. 9 Rehr's initiatives continued to bear fruit in this context. His successors perpetuated Rehr's meteorological observations. This climate record allowed the Peruvian-born physician Hipólito Unanue (1755-1833) to recognize immediately that the hot Lima summer of 1791 was extremely anomalous. A few years later, he tied those observations to similar anomalies in 1701, 1720, and 1728. This was a major discovery for environmental science, as we now know this periodic recurrence as the El Niño phenomenon. 10 9. The study of this revolution and its ties to Spain has exploded in recent years. Besides ref. in previous note, see Joaquín F. Quintanilla, Naturalistas para una corte ilustrada

A Global Ecological History, 2013

Review of Global Markets Transformed, 1870-1945, by Steven C. Topik and Alan Wells. Journal of Historical Geography 53 (July 2016): 116-117, 2016

American Historical Review 120, no. 4 (Oct. 2015): 1429-1431., 2015

This study presents tantalizing evidence that hurricanes and other climate extremes exercised a p... more This study presents tantalizing evidence that hurricanes and other climate extremes exercised a powerful influence over colonial policy affecting Spanish-ruled Cuba during the second half of the eighteenth century. The book's trans-Caribbean perspective and far-ranging archival research complements John R. McNeill's recent work on the impact of mosquito-borne illness on the military history of the Age of Revolution. This book makes a compelling case that vagaries in the supply of wheat flour played a critical role not only in the politics of free trade but also in perceptions of the ability of the colonial state to provide a civilized life for its subjects. A daily ration of white bread was a legal right accorded to the regular military, colored militia, and even to the king's slaves, and it was a key marker of status in a society obsessed with matters of race and hierarchy. Sherry Johnson identifies several instances in which climate extremes disrupted the food supply or otherwise influenced international affairs, including the disastrous confluence of a circum-Caribbean drought and an unprecedented spate of hurricanes in 1780. It is worth remembering that flour was far more important than slaves to the functioning of Great Britain's Asiento in the Spanish Caribbean, and that events in this region played a significant role in the decision of North American patriots to revolt against British rule.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The second part of the book reworks previously published data on the mortality rates of the Black... more The second part of the book reworks previously published data on the mortality rates of the Black Death in order to assert a much higher population decline. The numbers remaining after the epidemic are decreased by Benedictow because households had shrunk (so the household coefficient applied is smaller), and because inflated numbers due to immigration after the epidemic have to be subtracted. He further increases mortality rates for all areas, arguing for the "supermortality" of women, children, and the poor. Thus, rates previously argued at  to  percent are revised upward to  to  percent. Studies based on cohorts of individuals instead of households that result in mortality rates too low for Benedictow's thesis are dismissed as too problematic because the researchers cannot identify the same cohort before and after the plague. This is asking too much of the extant records, and Benedictow requires this standard only for information that he cannot mold to suit an increased mortality rate. Despite the forced nature of his analysis, it is correct that mortality rates were very high-we can no longer claim  to  percent-and that this should be applied generally, since, as Benedictow argues, mortality was higher in the countryside, where there was a higher ratio of rat families to human families than in towns. The study of the Black Death is, despite the title, far from complete, since he leaves it to others to examine results of this ferocious mortality on the social, cultural, medical, and psychological fabric of medieval life.

the colleagues of one of his interview subjects joked about feeding him disinformation, Gusterson... more the colleagues of one of his interview subjects joked about feeding him disinformation, Gusterson had no way of proving whether or not it happened. Historians will find both this methodology and the manner in which conclusions are reached problematic.

Center for History, Environment, and Society, University of Wisconsin-Madison, blog and 51 min. podcast, 17 Oct. , 2017

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 100 Years of Now: The Technosphere Now, 2 Oct. 2015. 23 min. , 2015

49 minute interview. WCAI Cape and Islands NPR Station 90.1, WNAN 91.1, WZAI 94.3, WGBH Boston. First broadcast 24 March, 2014

35 min. documentary film focusing on the El Niño phenomenon, Peru’s marine environment, global wa... more 35 min. documentary film focusing on the El Niño phenomenon, Peru’s marine environment, global warming, glacier melting, and the water crisis in the Andes

Brief article on the making of "The Last Drop."

This is an ecological history of a development project planned and managed by technical experts:... more This is an ecological history of a development project planned and managed by technical experts: the origin, decline, spectacular revival, and tragic fate of the Peruvian guano industry. In another sense, this is a social history of an elite type--the environmental technocrat--and those they served.

During the nineteenth century, scientific travelers appropriated Andean knowledge of vast, ancient deposits of nitrogen fertilizer for use by farmers in the Northern Hemisphere. During the early twentieth century, environmental scientists reoriented the guano industry for Peruvian use. They oversaw the development of perhaps "the greatest of all industries based upon the conservation of wild animals."

This project had both global and local repercussions. The two-way exchange of personnel, ideas, and technologies between Peru and the rest of the world revolutionized scientific understanding of the Peru Current ecosystem. This knowledge led directly to international recognition of the global importance of the El Niño phenomenon. Through the issue of human population control, Peru's experiment inspired the emergence of an environmental movement that spanned the Americas after World War II. In Peru, technical experts fundamentally influenced the political process, input-intensive agriculture, artisanal and industrial fishing, the organization of "big science" institutions, as well as the guano birds and their ecological community. Ultimately, technocrats enriched and empowered a new ruling class for Peru.

Beginning in the 1940s, the specter of an impending catastrophe in the global food supply gave impetus to the exploitation of the world's fish stocks. To serve this demand, scientists helped engineer for Peru the largest industrial fishery on Earth. Their studies legitimated the decision to let the guano birds pass into oblivion so their food, the anchoveta , could be processed into animal feed. As a reflection of persistent global trends of food distribution, rather than feed the world's undernourished, this fishmeal enabled affluent northerners to consume more meat. This fishery was carefully supervised by experts, but they proved unable to prevent its collapse during the El Niño of 1972-1973. This ecological disaster reveals how fleeting "sustainable growth" can be, even for the best-managed development projects.