Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect,   ISBN:9781559634953

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David Orr, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College and James Marsh Professor at large at the University of Vermont, writes with down to earth wisdom regarding our way of life on this planet, for better and for worse. His essay "architecture as pedagogy" revolutionized my way of thinking about buildings, especially public school buildings. How odd and how wise it would be if the very buildings in which we sleep, love, eat, study and work, teach us how to better live! Orr's latest work is on this very subject, "high performance buildings": Design on the Edge: The Making of a High Performance Building (MIT Press, 2006). Orr is a well-rooted idealist, pushing the edges of how we think about life on this planet, including education, economics, architecture, family and the environment. Be prepared to be disturbed, stirred up, and challenged in your thinking, with the very strong possibility that Orr's book will shift you from merely using the earth to stewarding this planet for future generations. For another book on spiritual care of the earth within the home and family, see The Busy Family's Guide to Spirituality: Practical Lessons for Modern Living From the Monastic Tradition

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Rather than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, as most educational administrators are doing, David Orr actually thinks, and thinks deeply, and gives readers, families and educators the most insightful perspective on using education to remedy and heal our ailing world. David Orr is as brilliant as they come - a man with the highest commitment to understanding the roots of our society's self-destructive behavior - and places ethical and environmental concerns front and center where they belong. If you are concerned about education, about the environment, about your children's future, read this book, and then tell others to as well.

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David W. Orrs work ties education and ecological social justice together. The new Obama ecological initiative has been influenced directly as well as indirectly by writers such as Orr, Aldo Leopold and Wendell Berry. It is compelling work and Earth in Mind is as good a place to start as any. It is a good inspiring read.

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Reading this book gave me a great peace of mind. I'm an environmental scientist, but I wanted to inspire people to reconnect with the world around them before focusing on objective science (which Orr claims, and I agree, is not really objective, but an objective method to verify and support subjective perspectives and passions).

He lists everything that is wrong and what needs to be corrected. A good follow-up book or study would be if someone took his advice to a school or set of schools and set up a curriculuum after his suggestions and measured how students responded.

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David Orr exquisitely puts into words a need for an environmental ethos in the classroom. As a high school teacher, I have long-intuited his insights about how to bring daily connections to students about the natural world that we inhabit. He is deeply passionate, articulate and practical. I'd love to see school boards, administrations, faculty and students alike be exposed to his clear thinking and real suggestions. He brings urgency without bringing despair.