David W. Orr, known for his work on environmental literacy and ecological design, will speak on “Some Like it Hot, Lots More Don’t: The Changing Climate of U.S. Politics” on Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
Orr’s talk opens the 2009 Environmental Science, Policy and Engineering Winter Seminar Series at Union College, “Achieving Environmental Sustainability: The Role of U.S. Higher Education.” All talks are free and open to the public. (See the complete schedule below.)
Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College, is best known for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and his recent work in ecological design.
He raised funds for and spearheaded the effort to 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 by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of 30 “milestone buildings” of the 20th century.
Orr is the author of five books: 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). He has published 150 articles in scientific journals, social science publications, and popular magazines.
Orr is also a James Marsh Professor at large at the University of Vermont. Born in Des Moines, Iowa and raised in New Wilmington, Pa., 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).
Other talks in the series:
Feb. 4: Tyrone Hayes, an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, whose research focuses on the role of steroid hormones in amphibian development: “From Silent Spring to Silent Night”
Feb. 11: Geoff Garver and Peter Brown, Laval University (Quebec): “Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy”
Feb. 18: James Howard Kunstler, urban planning expert, social critic, journalist, Skidmore College professor and author of The Geography of Nowhere, The Long Emergency and other books: “Urban Planning, Design, Peak Oil and Sustainability”
All talks are at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.