It seems that we have a celestial treat, just in time for Halloween. Comet Holmes, a periodic comet normally appearing at around 17th magnitude, has performed a neat trick and brightened up to around 2.5 magnitude. What this means for us is that, even if you live in an area with a light-polluted city sky, you will be able to see the comet with the naked eye. Of course, the view gets better with binoculars or a telescope, but that will only enhance the show. This sudden display of cometary personality first appeared on the 24th of October, and within a day, grew from a star-like appearance into a big, fluffy blur because of the cloud of dust expanding from it. Its appearance has changed with each day since, so this is a great opportunity to watch what happens next. Who knows, it might even form a tail!

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Moths, they outnumber butterflies by far, but still haven’t caught enough of the limelight. Well, here is our chance to celebrate these beautiful creatures and learn a little bit about them in the process. Enjoy!

• Really Interesting Moths

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Virtually all Westerners use quite a lot of fossil fuel each year, and whether we like it or not, there are consequences for obtaining it, both environmental and human-rights-related. It is easy to try not to think about it, but, thanks to this latest green-awareness revolution, people are being reminded throughout the multimedia world that we are needlessly wasteful of oil, natural gas and energy in general. We can use less, we just don’t feel like it, mostly. Well, water supplies and our air are being polluted, mountaintops are being blasted away, and human conflicts have arisen because of the competition for natural resources and fuel that currently defines our world. And, more often than not, the poor people unlucky enough to live somewhere with these treasures, are displaced and do not get a share of the wealth.

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Many of zeitgeistland’s blog articles focus on environmental issues in the US, but of course there are many dire situations all across the globe, and they need publicity as well. In this case, it is difficult to believe that people would be so abusive to a lake that is both a very important water supply and food resource, and yet, it has happened. This is certainly one example of how globalization has had a deleterious effect on the environment, and we consumerists in the West have played our role in this unfolding environmental disaster.

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It’s that time of year again, where baby turtles are trying to make their way out to sea. Only lately, all of their hard work has been undone by a tropical storm, and they’ve been washed back onto beaches in Florida by 10-foot hight waves. The good news is that through the efforts of the public, and state biologists, many of these little turtles have been rehabilitated and then dropped off 30-40 miles out to sea, in a protective seaweed environment. Here’s hoping they grow up to have baby turtles of their own.

• Baby Turtles Saved

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Al Gore has been in the running for the peace prize for a while, and it has finally come to pass. Great! Gore has been on the forefront of publicizing global warming since the 1980s, and that shows some serious insight for a politician, and for a subject that doesn’t involve either lining the politician’s pockets or securing him the next election. One can now easily think about approaching a candidate for political office, and asking her/him, ‘What would you rather have, the presidency of the United States of America, or the Nobel prize?’, without too much science fiction being involved.

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AEP has been wrangling with the EPA since the 90’s to avoid upgrading its power plants for pollution control. This fight started with the Clinton administration and was significantly delayed during the Bush administration, but may finally be over, for now. Coal-fired power plants provide a significant amount of electricity in the Ohio valley, but many are old, using outdated pollution controls and so are very, dirty, spewing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury into the air.

• AEP Must Improve Plants

• AEP Fines and Measures for Pollution

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