David W. Orr

David Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College and a James Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont. He is best known for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and his recent work in ecological design. He spearheaded the effort to fund, design, and build a $7.2 million Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, a building described by the New York Times as "the most remarkable" of a new generation of college buildings and selected as one of 30 "milestone buildings in the 20th century" by the U.S. Department of Energy. Orr is recipient of numerous awards and was described by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as "one of those who will shape our lives."

Dr. Orr received a BA degree from Westminster College, an MA degree from Michigan State University, and a PhD degree from the International Relations University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books and articles.

State of the World 2014

Governing for Sustainability

Citizens expect their governments to lead on sustainability. But from largely disappointing international conferences like Rio II to the U.S.’s failure to pass meaningful climate legislation, governments’ progress has been lackluster. That’s not to say leadership is absent; it just often comes from the bottom up rather than the top down.

Hope Is an Imperative

The Essential David Orr

For more than three decades, David Orr has been one of the leading voices of the environmental movement, championing the cause of ecological literacy in higher education, helping to establish and shape the field of ecological design, and working tirelessly to raise awareness of the threats to future generations posed by humanity’s current unsustainable trajectory.

Hope Is an Imperative brings together in a single volume Professor Orr’s most important works.

Earth in Mind

On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect

In Earth in Mind, noted environmental educator David W. Orr focuses not on problems in education, but on the problem of education.

The Last Refuge

Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror

"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels" -SAMUEL JOHNSON, 1775

Updated and revised following the 2004 elections, The Last Refuge describes the current state of American politics against the backdrop of mounting ecological and social problems, the corrosive influence of money, the corruption of language, and the misuse of terrorism as a political issue.

Setting out an agenda that transcends conventional ideological labels, David Orr contends that partisan wrangling is only a symptom of a deeper dysfunction: The whole political machinery that connects Americans' fundamentally