Winter Newsletter 2010

David Orr visits the UM FLAT

Upon leaving the Missoula airport, the distinguished professor and Director of Environmental Studies from Oberlin College looked up and down the line of rail cars and declared, “There’s global warming in Montana, and it is right in front of us.” The coal-filled cars crossing the state were symbolic of the close ties Montana has to industry and further highlighted the reason for David Orr’s visit to the University of Montana as the distinguished guest and lecturer for the UM Presidential Lecture Series.

During his stay in Missoula, we were pleased to host David for a tour and discussion at the UM FLAT. David conveyed his appreciation for the collaborative initiatives designed to engage students and raise awareness about sustainability issues at the FLAT. We all shared his enthusiasm of the FLAT vision to increase the scale of the project to include the whole block of UM homes between 5^th and 6^th street. “This is pretty similar to my day job,” David remarked and briefed us on the Oberlin Project, an ambitious 300 million dollar project designed to make the University the economic driver behind the efforts to make the city of Oberlin an exemplary model for a carbon neutral city.

In his address at the UC ballroom, David delivered a sobering message to Missoula as he outlined his new book, Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse, “Climate change is the worst global crisis we have ever faced with the exception of nuclear war, and it may be too late to reverse its effects.” David was here to remind us that we are at a critical hour to create change, and we are up against political inaction and a public that does not know what to believe or do. Climate collapse needs be a uniting issue, not a political trigger that continues to divide our nation and our society from the natural world. David Orr’s message about climate collapse is a call to action for UM and the nation, to take the lead in the effort to advance climate change literacy and sustainable initiatives if we want to provide a safe planet for ourselves and our children.

As David prepared for his departure back to his day job at Oberlin, David offered his reaffirmation to the FLAT project as an exciting model with the potential to increase the dialogue about solutions that combat the forces of climate change.