Nature's Temporalities: Consequences for Environmental Politics

Abstract

This paper seeks to bring to the forefront of attention the temporality of environmental matters and thereby establish the link between nature's temporalities, industrial activity, technological innovation, precautionary measures and environmental policies. It explores the assumptions associated with the `environmental crisis' and deconstructs some of the key presuppositions of the science of ecology and environmental economics.

Sustainable Development from a Temporal Perspective

“…It helps to prevent inadequate and misleading 'certainties' leading to a series of surprises -labelled as scandals and leading to all sorts of quick-fix reactions, partly adequate but often not addressing the real issues at stake. Therefore, it underlines the significance of the precautionary principle (Hofmeister, 1997). The timescape perspective also advocates attending closely to the linkages and networks of the rhythms of life.…”

“…Specifically, a temporal perspective is a prerequisite for the main task of understanding the linkages and networks within and between the three dimensions -ecological, economic, social. To realize the full potential of time research for the concept of sustainable development I will utilize arguments from some of the first contributions to address sustainable development through a temporal perspective (such as Grove-White, 1997;Hofmeister, 1997;Vercelli, 1998). Understandings of time as linear, homogeneous and even reversible have hindered the realization of this potential.…”

Calendars and Ecosystem Management: Some Observations

“…The Tutzing time ecology project started in Germany in 1991 shows how human activities, most notably agriculture, are fine-tuned to the rhythms of nature. It also emphasises the need for considering 'time' in research projects dealing with ecology and environmental issues (Adam et al 1997;Hofmeister 1997). In 2002, the Australian Government initiated a commendable project called the 'Indigenous Weather Knowledge Website Project' that documents aboriginal calendars and disburses climatic information from them (Australian Government 2013).…”

Timescape of the earthquake disasters in iran: the intricacies of earthquake time and earthquake disaster risk reduction

“…Hofmeister () emphasized that nature and society do not share the same rhythms of time. Based on the analysis of four large earthquake disasters, within a 52‐year time interval, it is obvious that earthquake time obeys and follows the rhythms of nature and the earthquake disaster time is highly influenced by those rhythms and meanings of time specific to the society and communities.…”

“…Based on the analysis of four large earthquake disasters, within a 52‐year time interval, it is obvious that earthquake time obeys and follows the rhythms of nature and the earthquake disaster time is highly influenced by those rhythms and meanings of time specific to the society and communities. Based on another principle of Hofmeister (, p. 313) that ‘… the human system is a part of the natural system and not its opposite. The same applies the other way round.’ Communities and society in Iran need to integrate earthquake time into their lives.…”