Hugo Blanco, Environmental Activist in Peru and Beyond, Dies at 88

When asked to explain his worldview, the renowned Peruvian political and environmental activist Hugo Blanco liked to tell a story about mushrooms.

These mushrooms, he explained, grow only during the rainy season around his hometown, Cusco, on the eastern side of the Andes, making them a valuable delicacy.

One day in the market, he approached a woman who was standing beside a small mountain of them.

“I told her, ‘I’ll buy all of them without asking for a discount,’ which was a good deal…