In Latin America —particularly in Mexico— in the public policies on science, technology and innovation (STI) there is a discourse and design based on a penta-helix (universities, business, government, social organizations and the environment) as if each helix had undergone a great transformation that allows the promotion of STI. This, however, has not happened in Mexico.

First of all, the arguments made in terms of such a penta-helix are not all valid. The environment is not an institution-organization that can generate norms or lines of authority or make decisions, as companies and universities can. The environment (nature) is an entity that supports all actions and decisions of people and organizations. Rather, we, as humans, must become aware of its care and take responsibility for protecting it in the face of climate change and global warming. Thus, the environment does not intervene under the same conditions and under the same rules as the other helices, which do not exist suspended in space. All actors or organizations must therefore strive —within the scope of their responsibilities— to improve the natural environment in which they operate. Advances in STI can contribute to halting the anthropogenic destruction of nature.