Normally The Green Interview produces its own biographies of the people we interview -- but the interview with David Orton is unique in several ways.To begin with, David was a highly-regarded proponent of "deep ecology," a perspective that sees all life forms – man, moose or microbe – as having an equal right to survive and flourish. But he was not only an ecological philosopher and a bold thinker; he was also a deeply principled man who made a remarkable effort to live in accordance with his beliefs, minimizing his ecological footprint by subsisting on a small hill farm in Nova Scotia which he and his wife, Helga Hoffmann-Orton, deliberately allowed to return to forest.
David was no mystic – but I suspect that many mystics would find much to admire in his asceticism, his intensity and his determination to live a life that he himself could regard as moral. His true focus, however, was publishing articles on the internet, particularly on the Green Web website, which he started in the 1990s, and latterly on his Deep Green Blog. In all these venues, he strove to create a philosophical position called “left biocentrism,” blending the essence of his earlier Marxism with the tenets of deep ecology.
A bit arcane? Yes – and no. The fundamental factor in our environmental crisis is something that, depending on your outlook, might be called wrong understanding, wrong attitude, wrong philosophy or wrong spirituality. And that's what David Orton attacked.
In early 2011, David was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. He faced his own death with great courage and dignity, and I was fortunate enough to interview him just a couple of weeks before he died. I found it a very moving conversation, and it is our first posthumous interview.
Months later, Helga and her daughter Karen published a lovely tribute to David as a “Lives Lived” article in the Toronto Globe and Mail. With their permission, we publish it here.
Lives Lived: David Keith Orton
The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, Nov. 02, 2011
by HELGA HOFFMANN-ORTON and KAREN ORTON
Deep green philosopher, activist, Earth lover, family cook, husband, father, friend. Born Jan. 6, 1934, in Portsmouth, England. Died May 12, 2011, in Salt Springs, N.S., of pancreatic cancer, aged 77.
One of four brothers born into a working-class family in Portsmouth, England, David Orton loved nature from an early age. His first experiences in the wild were when he was sent to the countryside during the Second World War. Later, he loved exploring the marshes around Portsmouth.
David apprenticed as a shipwright, but his dreams were elsewhere. He had a passion for reading (D.H. Lawrence was a favourite) and rowing. In 1957, he emigrated to Canada. He pursued his interests at Sir George Williams University in Montreal, graduating with a BA in 1963. He and his first wife, Gunilla, had two children: Karl and Johanna.
Later, David did a master’s degree at the New School for Social Research in New York, but he became so involved in left-wing politics that he didn’t finish his PhD in sociology. He returned to Montreal, helped form the Movement for Socialist Liberation, and taught at Sir George Williams University. His politics proved too radical and, after two years, he was fired. He worked with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), but eventually left the party because of conflicts over internal democracy.
Moving to British Columbia in 1977, he saw how capitalist greed and industrial society were destroying the forests and the oceans, and affecting wildlife and humans. He came to see how his beliefs were reflected in the philosophy of deep ecology, which sees all life forms as having an equal right to exist.
In 1979, David and his second wife, Helga, moved to Nova Scotia, where their daughter, Karen, was born. He lived simply in what he called his paradise, an old homestead with a woodstove for heat and no indoor plumbing, surrounded by regenerating forests in Pictou County. He enjoyed cycling on the back roads, cross-country skiing and walking in the forest. David was always ready with a cup of tea for his wife and daughter when they came in, and the question “How’s your soul?” He had a knack for getting to the heart of an issue, and held people to the same high principles he set for himself.
His environmental interests were wide-ranging, encompassing forestry, wildlife, pesticides, fisheries and seals, energy and climate change, aboriginal relationships, Green Party politics and more. Through his activism and writings, he developed “left biocentrism,” linking deep ecology and social justice.
David had a large network of friends worldwide and was touched by the outpouring of support in response to the news of his cancer. In his last blog post he wrote: “We all eventually return to the Earth. Goodbye and keep fighting.”
Helga Hoffmann-Orton is David’s wife; Karen Orton is their daughter.
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