The history of the ecology of the Bering Coast might sound like a bit of an obscure subject, but this podcast brought it alive.
An interview with Bathsheba Demuth, the academic author of the title of that name, is a fascinating listen.
What really struck with me is the way in which whaling was one more great extraction of resources – energy – from the periphery to the political centres of the colonial era. How much a whale is in practical terms a huge store of energy – all harvested up from the krill that teems so richly in particularly polar regions. On a smaller scale tundra lichen fed caribou, the riches from which were also transported to political centres.
Memorable phrase – “all conversion is a loss.”
The book also very well regarded in this New York Times review.
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