QC
Uj
Volume 07, Issus No. 1
Thursday, May 24, 1979, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
1
homestead
From valley to village,
idea becomes reality
By KIMBERLY McGUIRE
David Orr is going to build his dream on 1500 acres of
land in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.
After three years of teaching environmental policy here,
Orr, UNC assistant professor of political science, will put
his theories on ecology to a test.
He and his brother Wilson are partners in the planning of
Homestead Village, a community in Fox, Arkansas,
designed to serve as a model for self-sufficient living
utilizing alternative energy sources.
Orr was the first to initiate environmental studies at
UNC. When he leaves this summer, his course
"Environment, Population and Politics" will no longer be
offered. He was brought to the University on "soft money,"
agrant with no guarantee of renewal, with the impression
that there would be support for an environmental program.
He said he has nahard feelings on leaving UNC.
"As it is, the transition from the teaching profession is
more abrupt than it could have been, but I've been thinking
about doing something like this for years," Orr said.
It will mean a big change from academic life, but Orr
said, "I'm a firm believer in the idea that you shouldn't do
any one thing for very long. Personally, I come to the
project (Homestead Village) with lots of excitement,"
adding with a laugh, "HI be too busy to have a mid-life
crisis."
See DILIGENCE on page 12
:
Lay of the land the site of Homestead Village is a 2.5 mile long valley