David W. Orr

(SUNY Press, 1992)

In Ecological Literacy, David W. Orr examines the tremendous historical shift from modern industrial culture to a global postindustrial culture, and the revolutionary implications this shift will have for our understanding of education. The modern age has been characterized by an obsession with technology, economic growth, and domination over nature, together with a persistent economic and military competition between nations. But the global ecological crisis is forcing us to question these primary cultural realities, and our task now is to begin to understand and adopt the concept of an ecologically sustainable culture.

Orr cogently explains both the magnitude of the ecological crisis and the nature of sustainable social and economic systems. He reflects upon the observations of Lewis Mumford, E. F. Schumacher, Herman Daly, Wendell Berry and likeminded social theorists, gains insight from carefully selected historical evidence, and explores the outlines of a postmodern, postindustrial society. His own thorough discussion is supplemented with a 16-page bibliography guiding the reader to key works on nature and culture, ecological thinking and sustainable development.

Education in a postindustrial society, argues Orr, will need to extend beyond the classical liberal arts of the modern age. “Ecological literacy” is a morally and experientially engaged way of knowing, involving a sense of wonder and respect for life and the realization that all human activities have consequences for the larger ecosystem. Orr maintains that ecological literacy cannot be achieved by adding “environmental education” to our standard compartmentalized curriculum, but entails radical educational as well as economic, political and cultural transformation. He asserts that “a great deal of what passes for knowledge is little more than abstraction piled on top of abstraction, disconnected from tangible experience, real problems, and the places where we live and work” (p. 126). Agreeing with Thoreau, Whitehead, and Dewey, Orr argues that an ecological education would immerse the learner in the natural world and the local community; it would engage the learner in conversation, in dialogue with the surrounding environment. Ecological literacy involves the whole body and feelings, not only the intellect; it cultivates a sense of place, not a rootless abstract intelligence; and it is most concerned witn wholeness, connection, and relationship, rather than fragmenting knowledge into discrete specialties.

Ecological Literacy is a visionary educational statement and a particularly readable and accessible presentation of ecological, postmodern thinking.

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