By Mary O’KEEFE

Before my grandson goes to bed we have a talk about his day. Now I know part of this is him just trying to stretch out bedtime but, for me, it is one of those moments that you file in your memory bank to treasure. During our recent nighttime conversation he was talking about some of the folklore stories that we all read to him. All of a sudden he sat up in bed and asked me if I knew that “factories and cars throw out gas into the air and that makes the Earth warmer and that is bad.” He then added, “And that’s the truth.”

Granted this 2-year-old has been read books on physics and climate change for babies since he was born but still – to have a real conversation with this little guy made me feel like maybe the Earth has a chance. If we can educate our children early on the science of this accelerated climate change they will grow up not to question the facts but to work toward helping to keep the Earth healthy and safe. And then to have the folklore stories mixed in seems to be a perfect combination of fact and imagination. The folklore, many of which deals with Earth fairies, teaches that nature is a partner to respect, not a backdrop that can be easily ignored.

As I was driving home with the echoes of his little voice in my head I heard on the radio a story about “another house” falling into the sea in the Outer Banks, North Carolina.

As of March 13, four houses located in this community had collapsed into the sea due “to the most rapid rates of erosion and sea level rise on the East Coast,” according to Georgia Coastal Research Council.

According to the National Park Service, which is the agency in charge of the coastal areas, the debris from a house that fell into the ocean on Feb. 9, 2022 spread across many miles of beaches.

“Unfortunately, there may be more houses that collapse onto Seashore beaches in the near future,” said David Hallac, superintendent, National Parks of Eastern North Carolina.

These houses that were destroyed are not small buildings but houses with three-to-four bedrooms with many more threatened as officials try to find ways to respond. It is a little too late to be really proactive because climate change is here and its effects accelerated.

I am still hopeful that the next generation will be more aware of the interwoven relationship between humans and nature, and also know, as my grandson says, “It’s the truth.”

The weather forecast looks pretty sunny for the near future. There may be a potential for rain at the end of the week but that chance is pretty small, said Ryan Kittell, meteorologist NOAA.

Sunday will be in the lower mid-70s with Monday looking like the warmest day with a chance the temperature could get close to 80.

“The core of our rain is December through March,” he added. “April into May is our transition.”

He said looking through to April 20 there does not seem to be any significant chance of rain.