Temporal scales and environmental knowledge production

In this paper, we investigate the durability of environmental knowledge. We draw upon two case studies on different types of environmental knowledge. One is theoretical: the concept of “natural capital” as an organising element in ecological economics. The other one is practical: knowledge used in the choice of technique in district heating. Our claim is that the validity of knowledge is the result of a process in which knowledge claims are incorporated as natural elements into broader discursive and political contexts. Techniques of creating temporal continuums and ruptures are essential in that process. Thus, the way how knowledge claims relate to people and their goals defines the temporal durability of knowledge, not their intrinsic properties.