How valuable could traditional ecological knowledge education be for a resource-limited future?: An emergy evaluation in two Mexican villages

Emergy is an important evaluative tool to understand the sustainability of ecological systems. This methodology normalizes natural and economic inputs to permit a more holistic evaluation of systems. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is commonly not included in analyses of traditionally-designed ecosystems, or past evaluation has tended toward a qualitative valuation of TEK. Our research evaluated the emergy in the creation, maintenance, and transfer of TEK at the individual and community levels, as well as the biophysical and cultural resources that support this knowledge system. These evaluations took place within the Lacandon Maya village of Lacanja Chansayab, Mexico and with Zapotec farmers of Lalopa, Mexico. Respondents stressed the importance of inter-generational ties, the local forest, and community in their education. We found that TEK-based labor transformities (1.23E07 sej/J in Lacanja Chansayab, Mexico and 6.54E06 sej/J in Lalopa, Mexico) are similar to past qualitative estimates. TEK labor will result in minimal impact to the environment (i.e., environmental loading ratio) relative to Western education, which has comparable transformities, due to reliance on renewable local ecosystem inputs rather than fossil fuels and physical infrastructure. This research highlights the importance for sustainability of both preserving knowledge transfer systems resulting in TEK and in developing hands-on educational systems that rely upon the natural world as the primary classroom.