A New Perspective on the Temporal Organization of Society As a Means of Addressing Disasters.

Proposed solutions to mitigate the environmental disasters and crises have largely fallen short of achieving their intended goals. This suggests the need for a reexamination of society’s current temporal organization and the underlying factors driving it—namely, the hegemonic control and determination of time that shapes Western societal structures. The Western concept of time, which emphasizes control and separation from nature, serves as a mechanism of societal regulation and disconnection from the natural world. This disconnection is intimately linked to the ongoing environmental and planetary health crises.

In contrast, Indigenous cultures embody a symbiotic relationship with the environment, living in harmony with the natural rhythms of the Earth. This divergence in the understanding and organization of time offers crucial insights into how society’s structuring of time can either exacerbate or mitigate the impacts of these crises. The recognition that societal organization influences the temporal schedules of human activities points to the need for transformative thinking.

Evidence from Chronobiology—the study of how living organisms synchronize with environmental cycles—reveals the profound effects of societal temporal structures on health and well-being. It underscores the fact that health and environmental policies must account for the dynamic interaction between the internal biological rhythms of organisms and their external environments. Human development is not merely governed by autonomous internal processes but are shaped by the intricate interplay between biological patterns and external time cues.

The way society organizes time has a direct bearing on human health, affecting physical and mental well-being, and quality of life. The relentless pursuit of productivity driven by capitalist consumption has far-reaching environmental consequences, including unsustainable urban expansion. A shift towards a more mindful temporal organization, which alleviates time pressure and advocates for social deceleration, holds the potential to foster more sustainable patterns of consumption, production, and living.