How does one rebuild community ties and the “energy-joy” in communities whose territories have been devastated by predatory projects? The following text presents the proposal of the Environmental Clinic, a project that was created to help heal peasant and indigenous communities on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, whose social fabric was destroyed mainly by oil extraction projects. The 'Huipala Proposal' presents a way for these communities to move toward their utopias and recover the “energy-joy” of living, after suffering the traumas of territorial and social expropriation. Here, energy is conceived in a broad and radically different way from the vision of capitalist societies. Instead of simply talking about alternative energies, they propose the concept of alteRAtive energies – i.e. those that are able to alter, or transform life for the better. Far from being a universal method that can be applied in the same way in every community, the 'Huipala Proposal' offers a framework that each community can adapt in their own way, according to their territorial, cultural and environmental particularities. This article was published in the WRM Bulletin 209, in December 2014. You can access the article here.
How does one rebuild community ties and the “energy-joy” in communities whose territories have been devastated by predatory projects? The following text presents the proposal of the Environmental Clinic, a project that was created to help heal peasant and indigenous communities on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, whose social fabric was destroyed mainly by oil extraction projects. The 'Huipala Proposal' presents a way for these communities to move toward their utopias and recover the “energy-joy” of living, after suffering the traumas of territorial and social expropriation.