After 5 years of organizing TierraFest, an annual event that celebrates the Earth sciences in Mexico, one of the things Raiza Pilatowsky Gruner has learned is that when it comes to communicating knowledge about our environment, “we scientists are not the people with the greatest authority. We all live on this planet.”
“There are many other ways to generate knowledge, to validate it and live it.”
She explained this during the event’s press conference, where she also announced the theme for this year’s festival: “Together Against the Storm.” The organizers of TierraFest didn’t want to convey the idea that scientists are the only source of solutions to problems such as climate change, said Pilatowsky Gruner. That’s been a consistent value held at Planeteando, the nonprofit behind TierraFest.
Though the scientific method is valid and important, “there are many other ways to generate knowledge, to validate it and live it,” Pilatowsky Gruner added. She believes that this philosophy has made TierraFest a safe place for diversity in an uncertain political landscape.
This week, Mexico City will host a science fair, live performances, and films for people of all ages to reflect on the relationship we all have with the planet.
Horizontal Learning
One example of the diversity at this year’s festival is its opening event, said Carla Chávez, who started as a social service intern at Planeteando and is now a regular collaborator. On 22 April (Earth Day), TierraFest kicks off with a hike in Los Dinamos National Park, a forest home to the Río Magdalena, the last free-flowing river in the Mexican capital.
“We believe in horizontal learning. We learn from them, and they learn from us.”
Chávez, a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), explained that Planeteando doesn’t want to be intruders in La Magdalena Atlitic, a historic community where the hike will take place. “We believe in horizontal learning,” she said. “We learn from them, and they learn from us.”
During the hike, Marisol Tovar Valentínez and her team of communal monitors—community members who volunteer to take care of their forest—will guide participants through their forest, joined by TierraFest organizers and National Geographic Explorer Daniela Cafaggi.
As part of horizontal learning, communal monitors in training will join the hike to learn from the TierraFest team and practice their skills in guiding groups. They will also share their knowledge of the forest with attendees.
Unlike Pilatowsky Gruner, Tovar Valentínez said she thinks that scientists may, indeed, have an authoritative voice over knowledge about the planet. “But not over wisdom,” she said, describing wisdom as knowledges created and protected in communities like hers. Wisdom is a continuous and living process, she said, although it is in danger of being lost as community elders die.
Tovar Valentínez said she values working with scientists, including Cafaggi, a biologist from UNAM who worked with the Atlihtic community to study bats in their forest.
Uniting Different Perspectives
On 24 April, TierraFest continues with the annual Beers to Cool the Planet event, during which scientists and activists share opinions and perspectives over drinks.
Pilatowsky Gruner explained at the press conference that organizers want to use TierraFest 2025 to highlight the importance of uniting people from different backgrounds, “Together Against the Storm.” Such unity can help individuals and communities face both climate change and global trends like extractivism, both “storms” touching the entire world.
After drinks, the celebration of diverse approaches to Earth’s challenges continues. Chávez will crawl into the skin of Carmilla Desmodus, a drag queen inspired by the iconic lesbian vampire from the book Carmilla by Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Desmodus, the genus of blood-sucking “vampire bats.”
“Drag for the Earth” emerged as an annual event at TierraFest 3 years ago, when drag queen Bia Hollis was invited to perform. Pedro Adad Tristán Flores, the UNAM biologist behind Bia Hollis, was also a social service intern with Planeteando before becoming a regular collaborator. Since then, her collective of drag queens takes inspiration from TierraFest’s theme each year to design their wardrobe and makeup, which they explain during the show.
This year, TierraFest’s LGBTQ+ focused activities will expand to include a playback performance by the collective Xuir, in which audience members will tell personal stories while the performers interpret them live. Organizers will prompt stories about the intersection between scientific work and LGBTQ+ identities.
Showing Attendees the World
On 26 April, TierraFilme will present another edition of films about planet Earth. For the first time, this event will be held at the Papalote Children’s Museum, a space dedicated to science communication for kids, and will kick off with episodes from the National Geographic docuseries A Real Bug’s Life. Attendees will see short films from Mexico and throughout Latin America on topics such as the effect of waste, the loss of Indigenous languages, and the impacts of urban expansion.
Events at TierraFest will wrap up on 27 April, when El Rule Cultural Center, the festival’s longtime home, will once again host the TierraFest Science Fair. Activists and scientists will showcase their work for adults and children in more than 20 workshops on water, air, Earth, and life. From life in Paleozoic seas to contemporary issues like the impacts that an undersea pipeline might have on whales, these Earth scientists are focused on better understanding the planet and sharing that knowledge with all.
—Roberto González (@ggonzalitos), Science Writer
