Rachel Carson imagined a different kind of spring in the early 1960s, believing the heavy use of pesticides threatened to silence the birds. Now, almost 60 years later, an invisible agent has silenced our presence.
Yet the birds are singing. Brants are bobbing in the low-tide water near the shore. Gulls are soaring and screeching. The deer seem more ubiquitous on our lawns and streets. And the flowers, in rich blues, reds and yellows garnish the landscapes around town. In the distance, Mt. Baker rises, robed in white splendor.
Another Earth Day has come. And it is sobering to see, and perhaps acknowledge, how beautiful the world seems without us.
John Delaney
Port Townsend
