“Lighting the fire in an energy-saving stove is to care deeply for it, to keep it in a special place.”

– Doña Martha, 2023, community researcher and sentipensante (one who feels and thinks).

Over the past four years (2021-2024), I had the fortune of participating in a research and advocacy project in the northeastern mountains of Puebla, Mexico, led by the Fundación Tosepan A.C. and funded by the National Strategic Program (PRONACE) on Energy and Climate Change of CONAHCYT. This process transformed my understanding of collective work, dialogue of knowledge, and the building of community-based solutions.

The project “Energy for the Yeknemilis (Good Living) of the Northeastern Sierra of Puebla” arose in response to the need to protect the territory against destructive megaprojects, such as open-pit mining and the imposition of hydroelectric plants, which would fragment the land (Tlali, 2014) and violate the Territorial Ordinance Program of Cuetzalan (CUPREDER, 2010). From the start, the project questioned the traditional research approach that views communities as objects of study without the capacity to offer solutions. Instead, a participatory analysis was applied, where the residents identified their own energy needs and proposed solutions based on their worldview and knowledge. This was facilitated through participatory methodologies (Durston and Miranda, 2002), such as workshops grounded in action research and popular education, fostering a collective and dynamic learning experience in which all voices were heard.

From these workshops, we created problem and solution trees that allowed us to identify common issues across the different communities and ensure that at least the main problems—such as excessive use of firewood and health impacts from inefficient and unsafe firewood use—had a consensus-based solution, in this case, the implementation of energy-saving stoves.

The collective reflection on problems and solutions enabled the construction of a project aligned with the people's needs, facilitating their participation. This exercise revealed that the central problem is the imposition of a dominant energy model that disrupts socio-historical practices through technologies dependent on a few sources, mainly hydrocarbons. Although the hegemonic model is presented as “sustainable” or “green,” it relies on modern renewable energies such as electricity and gas (UNDP, 2018).

Through collective processes, an alternative model of energy management was proposed, adapted to the rural lifestyles of the northeastern Sierra of Puebla, promoting yeknemilis (good living) with intergenerational inclusion and gender equity. This approach is based on the Life Plan of the Sierra, recorded in the Códice Masewal (Boege & Fernández, 2022), which guides energy autonomy as part of good living.

Hurricane Grace in 2021 also prompted reflection on our dependence on electricity, as it left several communities without service for weeks. This highlighted the importance of other local energy sources such as the sun, human power, firewood, and water, giving electricity and hydrocarbons their rightful place within a diverse energy mix. This process led to questioning the concept of energy itself, as developing an alternative model required rethinking it beyond the dominant physical and economic principles that define it as the capacity to generate work, measurable and marketable (SENER, 2016; Toledo, Garrido, & Barrera, 2014).

Thanks to the invitation from the Tosepan Cooperative Union, more than 100 people participated in dialogues on the concept of energy from the perspectives of the Masewal, Tutunakú, and Mestizo cultures. More than 90 energy-related practices were identified, deepening our understanding of their complexity and highlighting the centrality of life in this vision, in alignment with a biocentric worldview (Massieu & Talavera, 2022). In this way, the contradiction between two opposing views of energy was understood: the hegemonic techno-economic and anthropocentric model, and the biocentric community model, which is based on life, respect, and reciprocity with the land.

Here, I experienced true dialogue of knowledge. From a positivist perspective, these conceptions of energy might seem irreconcilable and mutually exclusive. However, thanks to the experience of participating social organizations and academic institutions, it was possible to build an integrative vision that does not reject either perspective. Instead, energy is conceived as something dynamic and in constant transformation, rather than a static and definitive definition. From these dialogues, I could say that energy is one:

It’s important to note that this is a personal interpretation based on the reflections and dialogues within the project, as there is no consensus on a definition of energy at the time of writing this essay. However, the working group has collectively agreed on names for three fundamental concepts in the Masewal language (Nahuatl of the northeastern Sierra of Puebla).

• Energy = Chikawalis, translated as force.
• Energy sources = Yolchikawalis-meh, translated as living forces or forces with heart.
• Energy for good living = Yolchikawkayenemilis, translated as the living force for good living, interpreted as “The energy managed with the heart.” ¹⁾

This vision of energy allowed us to change how we manage it. We understood that energy is not a resource to be exploited for human interests but something alive that we share the land with and that deserves respect, manifesting through fire, water, wind, lightning, earth, and other elements. Martha, 53, a member of the community research group, summarizes it this way: “Putting the fire in an energy-saving stove is to care deeply for it, to keep it in a special place.” Energy management is not only about efficiency or profitability but also about caring for the yolchikawalismeh (energy sources) so that they, in turn, care for us. It means integrating local knowledge for appropriate solutions, organizing horizontally, and promoting knowledge-sharing to manage energy systems.

With this perspective, the project advanced in key areas: we innovated energy technologies through participatory processes, fostered “community energy intelligence,” formed research groups and cooperatives, proposed public policies for community energy generation, and designed a Center for Innovation in the Learning and Application of Social Energy Technologies. In this way, we built the yolchikawkayeknemilis (energy for and from good living) management model, based on self-management, inclusion, resilience, respect, productivity, replicability, and the biocultural essence of the land. It is grounded in values like trust, generosity, rootedness, mutual aid, and transparency, inspired by the Códice Masewal (Boege & Fernández, 2022).

This experience of collective construction, centered on energy, has led me to rethink my approach to knowledge and local wisdom, viewing them with greater respect and understanding that they don’t need to make sense to everyone to be valid. Each person understands the world from different epistemic and reference frameworks, and these forms of knowledge can enrich our understanding of the relationships between humans and nature in a more complex and holistic way, as they emerge from collective reflection, which makes them valid and relevant.

The path forward in this process remains, at least for me, an unknown that only time will resolve. What I am certain of is that it will be resolved collectively and thoughtfully, walking together with all forms of life that inhabit the land.

Grupo de Familias Investigadoras del proyecto energía para el yeknemilis. Picture Credits: Pablo Fernandez)

• Boege, E., & Fernández, L. E. ((Coordinación, facilitación y compilación) de 2022). Plan de vida de los pueblos Masewal, Tutunakú y Mestizo de la sierra nororiental de Puebla. Códice Masewal. Cuetzalan, Puebla, México: Unión de Cooperativas Tosepan Titataniske, Alteptajpianij, Red de Patrimonio Biocultural de México, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
• CUPREDER. (2010). Programa de Ordenamiento Ecológico Territorial de Cuetzalan. Puebla, Puebla: Diario Oficial del Estado de Puebla.
• Durston, J., & Miranda, F. (2002). Experiencias y metodología de la investigación participativa. CEPAL-SERIE Políticas Sociales.
• Fernández, J. P., Lomelín, L. E., & Ramírez, B. (2022). Caracterización del Consumo y Producción de Energía Local. Cuetzalan, Puebla: PRONAII-CONACYT: Energía para el yeknemilis (buen vivir) de la sierra nororiental de Puebla.
• Massieu, Y., & Talavera, I. (2022). Biocentrismo: conflicto epistemológico y social en la relación sociedad-naturaleza. VEREDAS. REVISTA DEL PENSAMIENTO SOCIOLÓGICO, 14-45.
• PNUD. (2018). Pobreza energética: análisis de experiencias internacionales y aprendizajes para Chile. Santiago de Chile: Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo.
• SENER. (14 de febrero de 2016). Día mundial de la energía. Obtenido de Blog de la Secretaría de Energía del Gobierno de México: https://www.gob.mx/sener/articulos/que-es-la-energia-14defebrerodiamundialdelaenergia#:~:text=Es%20la%20capacidad%20que%20tiene,magn%C3%A9tica%2C%20nuclear%2C%20entre%20otras.
• Tlali, T. (17 de Junio de 2014). El Ordenamiento Territorial Ecológico de Cuetzalan, una herramienta para la defensa del territorio ante megaproyectos. La Jornada de Oriente.
• Toledo, V., Garrido, D., & Barrera, N. (2014). Conflictos Socioambientales, resistencias ciudadanas y violencia neoliberal en México. Ecología Política, Cuadernos de Debate Internacional, 46, 114-124.

About the Author: Pablo Fernandez has a Master's degree in sustainability science and technology with 13 years of experience in research and development of community projects focused on the implementation of social technologies and land use planning. He is a member of the project's research and advocacy collective.