Jim Proctor

James "Jim" D. Proctor is an American geographer and environmental scholar born December 27, 1957. He served as professor of environmental studies at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon from 2005 to 2016, and previously taught geography at UC Santa Barbara from 1992 to 2005. In 2002, he founded the Alder Creek Community Forest educational nonprofit in his birthplace of Canyonville, Oregon. He's also a senior fellow at the Breakthrough Institute.

Proctor's scholarship focuses on environmental theory, exploring concepts of nature in American environmentalism, the intersection of science and religion in environmental movements, and environmental studies pedagogy. He's known for critiquing key concepts like nature, sustainability, and environment itself, developing what he calls a "post-naturalist" approach influenced by philosopher Bruno Latour. His work emphasizes dynamic, relational approaches to environmental understanding that embrace multiple perspectives while searching for meaningful differences.

In 2017, Proctor launched EcoTypes, a free online survey and research initiative that helps people explore their environmental frameworks. The project has collected over 15,000 responses and identifies patterns across 12 fundamental environmental differences grouped into three themes: Place, Knowledge, and Action.