| Emergy is an important evaluative tool used to understand the sustainability of ecologically-engineered systems. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is commonly not included in analyses of traditionally-designed ecosystems. I hypothesized that past emergy analyses under-represent the embodied energy in TEK. My research evaluated the emergy in the creation, maintenance, and transfer of TEK, as well as the resources that support this knowledge system. This evaluation took place in the Lacandon Maya village of Lacanja Chansayab, Mexico. I found that an individual's TEK education can result in labor transformities that exceed past estimates. Furthermore, this TEK labor results in minimal impact to the environment (i.e., environmental loading ratio) due to reliance on renewable inputs. This research highlights the importance for sustainability of both preserving systems resulting in TEK and developing hands-on education that relies upon the natural world as the primary classroom in `Western' schools. |
