Posted on Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Dr. David Orr, son of former Westminster College President Will Orr (1949-1967), will speak at Westminster College Thursday, May 6, at 6 p.m. in Phillips Lecture Hall located in the Hoyt Science Resources Center.
His talk, "The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror," will include issues raised in his latest book, The Last Refuge, where he describes his views of the current state of American politics against the backdrop of mounting ecological and social problems.
"We are the most media-saturated, but among the least informed people on Earth," writes Orr. "This is no accident. We are ruled by a plutocracy, distracted by the entertainment industry, and frequently misinformed by an increasing concentrated news media that puts the pursuit of the market share above telling the whole truth."
Orr, who earned his master's from Michigan State University and Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania, is currently the chair of the Environmental Studies Program and the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College.
Orr has received numerous awards for his work in issues related to environmental education including the Lyndhurst Prize, the National Conservation Achievement Award, and most recently, the Bioneers Award in 2002. He was instrumental in building the $7.2 million Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, a breakthrough in environmental design, which has been hailed as one of the 30 "milestone buildings" by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The event, which is co-sponsored by the Westminster College Biology Department and the Sierra Student Coalition, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Shahroukh Mistry, assistant professor of biology, at (724) 946-7210 or e-mail mistrys@westminster.edu.
