James D. Proctor

Born the son of Robert and Virginia Proctor, Jim grew up, became an Eagle Scout, and graduated from high school near Canyonville, a small town in Southern Oregon. Here, he was exposed to a rural culture that would influence his future interests and scholarship, and to church music and the singer-songwriters of the 1970s that would influence his songwriting, which has resulted in over 40 original songs, including a 2011 EP he recorded with his daughters. As a National Merit scholar, Jim completed an undergraduate degree in religious studies with honors at the University of Oregon (1980). 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 (1987) as well as a M.A and Ph.D (1992) in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2005, Jim moved from California back to his home state of Oregon, where he has lived since.

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 debate,[2] Proctor primarily published on concepts of nature in contemporary American environmentalism.[3][4] He next explored science and religion,[5] again in the context of human/biophysical nature and recent environmental movements.[6] Most recently, Proctor has published in conjunction with his work in environmental studies,[7] including theory, pedagogy, and their interweaving in environmental engagement across ideological difference.[8]

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.”[9] His approach could be called “post-naturalism,” especially as articulated via the longtime influence of Bruno Latour, in works such as Politics of Nature[10] and We Have Never Been Modern.[11] 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.[12] Proctor’s publications replace these options with “counting between one and two”,[13] involving more dynamic, relational approaches to nature and environment.[14]

More recently, Proctor has published on environmental engagement,[15] 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.[15] 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 other[16]

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 (18 total), which have yielded three statistically-derived underlying patterns called themes, and five theme-based frameworks or EcoTypes, with names such as Small is Beautiful and Indigenous Justice.[17] As of spring 2022, the EcoTypes survey has been completed nearly 8000 times, with cross-national collaboration and a larger scholarly project on environmental frameworks underway.