David Orr
David W. Orr is a senior advisor to the Oberlin College president, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College, and a James Marsh, Professor at large at the University of Vermont. Born in Des Moines, Iowa and raised in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, he holds a B.A. from Westminster College (1965), a M.A. from Michigan State University (1966), and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania (1973).
He is the author of six books: Millennial Hope (forthcoming); Design on the Edge: The Making of a High Performance Building (MIT Press, 2006); The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment (Island Press, 2004); The Nature of Design (Oxford, 2002); Earth in Mind (Island, 1994/2004); Ecological Literacy (SUNY, 1992) and co-editor of The Global Predicament (North Carolina, 1979) and The Campus and Environmental Responsibility (Jossey-Bass, 1992); and the Sage Reader on Environment and Society (2007). He has published 170 articles in scientific journals, social science publications, and popular magazines.
He is a founder of the President’s Climate Action Plan which is a detailed plan for the next U.S. president’s first 100 days relative to the challenge of climatic change. He is also a founder of a new journal on ecological design called Solutions. He works as a philanthropic advisor to Adam J. Lewis.
Dr. Orr is a contributing editor of Conservation Biology. He has served as a Trustee of the Educational Foundation of America, the Compton Foundation, and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. He serves on the Boards of the Rocky Mountain Institute (CO), the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the Center for Ecoliteracy (CA), and the Center for Respect of Life and Environment. He is also an advisor and consultant to the Trust for Public Land, the National Parks Advisory Committee, and other organizations. He has lectured at hundreds of colleges and universities in the U.S. and elsewhere.