James D. Proctor

James "Jim" Proctor (born 27 December 1958) is an American geographer, the editor and author of numerous books and articles, and the director of the Environmental Studies program at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Before becoming the director of the Environmental Studies program at Lewis & Clark College in 2005, he taught in the geography department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the father of two daughters, Joy and Elise, a Kojosho black belt, singer-songwriter, and cyclist. In 2002, Proctor founded the Alder Creek Community Forest educational nonprofit in his birthplace of Canyonville, Oregon. Proctor is also a senior fellow at the Breakthrough Institute. 
== Biography and Education ==
Born the son of Robert and Virginia Proctor, Jim grew up, became an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America), and graduated high school in a small town in Southern Oregon. Here, he was exposed to a rural culture that would influence his future interests and scholarship. As a national merit scholar, Jim completed an undergraduate degree in religious studies with honors at the University of Oregon. He then spent almost four years abroad in Swaziland with the Peace Corps. On his return, he attended a civil engineering program at the University of New Mexico, and proceeded to earn a M.S. in Environmental Engineering as well as a M.A and Ph.D in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley.
=== Scholarship ===
Proctor’s scholarship in environmental theory has gone through three main phases. Following his Ph.D. thesis on the ethics and ideology of the Pacific Northwest spotted owl debateProctor, James D. (1992). “The owl, the forest, and the trees: Eco-Ideological conflict in the Pacific Northwest.” Ph.D. dissertation, Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley., Proctor primarily published on concepts of nature in contemporary American environmentalism. He next explored science and religion, again in the context of human/biophysical nature and recent environmental movements. Most recently, Proctor has published in conjunction with his work in environmental studies, including theory, pedagogy, and their interweaving in environmental engagement across ideological difference. 
Proctor is known as a critic of many key concepts that inform contemporary American environmentalism, including nature, sustainability, and even environment—”…at least in the sense that environment is generally understood today.” His approach could be called “post-naturalism,” especially as articulated via the longtime influence of Bruno Latour, in works such as Politics of Nature and We Have Never Been Modern. As with Latour, Proctor’s post-naturalism is less a rejection of environmental concern than a repudiation of certain binary assumptions it has inherited from modernity, as well as common holistic solutions. Proctor’s publications replace these options with “counting between one and two”, involving more dynamic, relational approaches to nature and environment.
More recently, Proctor has published on environmental engagement, building in part on his biography as an urban Oregonian with longstanding roots in rural Oregon, and responding to U.S. political trends suggesting increasing polarization. Proctor has argued for engagement as a third way beyond simple agreement or disagreement among people who differ on issues of environment, one marked by “creative tension,” an embrace of paradox as deep environmental truths come into productive conflict with each otherProctor, James D. “EcoTypes: Exploring Environmental Ideas, Discovering Deep Difference.” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 10, no. 2 (June 2020): 178–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-020-00592-y..
Proctor launched EcoTypes, an educational and research initiative, in 2017. EcoTypes is a free, anonymous online survey with associated resources designed for participants to explore a broad range of environmental ideas known as axes (15 total), which have yielded three statistically-derived underlying patterns called themes, and five theme clusters or EcoTypes, with names such as Small is Beautiful and Indigenous Justice. As of summer 2021, the EcoTypes survey has been completed over 5500 times, primarily by students in U.S. higher education, with cross-national collaboration unfolding in 2021. A book on EcoTypes is forthcoming.
Category:1958 births
Category:American geographers
Category:American editors
Category:American authors