During his tenure at the Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College, Orr demonstrated how institutions of higher learning can teach ecological literacy while practicing sustainable design and encouraging more eco-friendly lifestyles on campus.

From 1971 to 1976, Orr was an associate professor of political science at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, where he co-founded the annual Atlanta Environmental Symposium.

These were among the first such regional-wide events to bring media, government agencies, business, community, students and experts to discuss the practical and political implications of earth's limits.

[3] From 1976 to 1979, Orr was assistant professor of political science at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.

[citation needed] In 1996, he organized the construction of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College.