Clarity- Winter ‘24

Dear Reader, 

One morning this quarter, I woke up startled to the sound of nothing. My ears, accustomed to the hustle and bustle of urban life, were ill at ease to this quiet.

I got up and stepped outside into a world of white. Thick flakes of snow were falling silently, landing in my hair and melting on my tongue. The meandering ice crystals were blurring the lines between sky, ground, tree and cloud. 

And yet, that snowy morning, I saw and felt with a clarity I hadn’t in a long while. As it is for most of us during the school year, my calendar is filled with color-coordinated blocks of time, scheduled down to the minute. The snow that fell that morning, the rest of the day and into the next, closed down Western’s campus and provided a much needed pause to a hectic school year. The flakes were a slow, gentle reminder to take the time to be enraptured by the beauty of the natural world, from the individual flakes to the immense storms. 

Acting as Editor-in-Chief of The Planet magazine provides me with the same sense of clarity I experienced that morning in the snow. It is a joy and privilege to watch reporters, photographers and editors tirelessly work towards stories that make complicated environmental issues easier to grasp. Their time and dedication allows others to vicariously experience a day on the snowfields of Mount Baker, and see the world through the eyes of a heron. Their stories remind us that the natural world, and all those who rely upon it, deserves to be understood, explored, and protected.  

We hope you, dear reader, find clarity in this quarter’s issue. 

Please share any comments, questions, concerns or corrections with us by emailing planet@wwu.edu .

Happy Reading, 

Riley Weeks 

Editor-in-Chief