Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Dave O’Hara

@davoh.bsky.social

760 followers 810 following 860 posts

Professor of Philosophy, Religion, Classics, and Environmental Studies. I study fish and forests, and the cultural ideas that connect them. Current home: South Dakota. Former homes: NY, VT, NM, PA, España. Canon for Creation Care, Episcopal Diocese of SD.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 21h

“The best maxim in writing, perhaps, is really to love your reader for his own sake.”

Charles S. Peirce, “Private Thoughts: Chiefly On The Conduct Of Life,” lxxv, March 17, 1888.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

Plato.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

This is part of a book I’m writing for my infant grandson. More details at the link, obvs.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

Badlands fauna for Felix: https://davoh.org/2025/10/12/badlands-fauna-for-felix.html

A bird is perched atop while a bison grazes below on a plain background.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

Meadowlark for Claire. Part of the book I am writing for my infant granddaughter, documenting the beautiful things I am seeing in the world.

A hand-drawn illustration of a meadowlark perched on a wooden post is accompanied by a handwritten note describing the bird's beauty and song.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

Tempted to boost this post by saying something inflammatory like “If you don’t like this post there is a nonzero chance that you and I might disagree about something in politics even though you’re probably a fine person in many ways” but I’m going to take a deep breath before going that far.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

More Badlands Bison: https://davoh.org/2025/10/12/more-badlands-bison.html

An ink drawing depicts a bison alongside a landscape of flowing lines, suggesting expansive terrain and distant mountains.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

Single-line sketch: Badlands Bison: https://davoh.org/2025/10/12/singleline-sketch-badlands-bison.html

A single-line drawing depicts a rugged landscape with bison grazing in the foreground and layered hills in the background.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 1d

To call them “badlands” is an injustice to just how good they are.

Bison grazing on tableland in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota yesterday.

A vast landscape features rugged, eroded hills and cliffs under a clear blue sky, with a few bison grazing on the grassland in the foreground.

Reposted by Dave O’Hara

Wendy Miller @burrowingowl.bsky.social · 2d

Moist owlettes. 🪶

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 2d

Twenty Years At Sage Creek: https://davoh.org/2025/10/11/twenty-years-at-sage-creek.html

A watercolor painting depicts a desert landscape with scattered tents and dramatic clouds in the sky.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 2d

Went camping in Badlands National Park with my students last night. Even though it was partly cloudy, sleeping under the stars was worth it.

A vast landscape of rugged, eroded rock formations stretches into the distance.

A bright moon illuminates a night sky with scattered stars and wispy clouds.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 4d

I think it will always be the case that the gold we accumulate will show a reflection not of our faces but of our hearts.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 4d

Today one of my environmental science students asked me if I knew of cool people working in marine biology that they could follow on social media. Umm, heck yeah. Of course I immediately suggested they follow @sarahmackattack.bsky.social

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 6d

My environmental philosophy class journaling this morning in the outdoor classroom made by another one of my environmental philosophy classes a few years ago.

Students write in paper notebooks while sitting in a semicircular outdoor classroom made of stone.

Reposted by Dave O’Hara

Cory Allen Heidelberger @coralhei.bsky.social · 7d

Now Hiring: South Dakota Water Rights Chief Engineer, $122K

The state is having trouble recruiting a replacement for its recently retired water rights chief engineer: South Dakota state government has now gone four months without a state water-rights chief engineer. Eric Gronlund retired from the…

Now Hiring: South Dakota Water Rights Chief Engineer, $122K

The state is having trouble recruiting a replacement for its recently retired water rights chief engineer: South Dakota state government has now gone four months without a state water-rights chief engineer. Eric Gronlund retired from the post in June, after 41 years with the state Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The director of the state Office of Water, Mark Mayer, is serving in that role on an acting basis.

dakotafreepress.com

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 9d

A friend brought his journal to coffee to show me what he did while hiking the Camino de Santiago with his students. He has begun sketching as I do, and his journal has become a work of art. I’d show you a photo, but it is after all his journal. So I leave it to your imagination.

Reposted by Dave O’Hara

Nick Bezio @beziostudio.bsky.social · 16d

Day 27 - Bounded #sciartseptember. In the deep sea a pair of shrimp will begin living in glass sponges and remain trapped inside the sponge once they get larger, the shrimp will be bound to the sponge for the rest of their lives.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

I’ve been re-reading some of WEB DuBois’ work this morning and reflecting on how much his work connected to his and others’ lives.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

Blessings: https://davoh.org/2025/10/04/blessings.html

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

Another morning thought: academic specialization can be immensely productive, but so often the disciplines do not speak with one another. The whats become untethered from the whys. Questions of the common good are hard to notice when not much is held in common.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

Small arrangements: https://davoh.org/2025/10/04/small-arrangements.html

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

Today a colleague told me she was a music major because it got her a scholarship. Then she took a Philosophy of Mind class that “blew her mind” and led her first to an M.A. in philosophy at Edinburgh and then into a Ph.D. in neuroscience.

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

Not sure if this is true but I like it anyway.

Eladio Bobadilla @eladiobobadilla.com · 10d

Dave O’Hara @davoh.bsky.social · 10d

Go ahead and dehisce. Go on. You’ve got something to give to the world? Something you’ve been working on that will bring about renewal? Open up, and let it fly.

Swamp milkweed seeds emerge from a dry seed pod in an act of dehiscence. The seeds dangle from thin threads and wait to fly off with the wind.