Last week, new lava vents burst open in the earth around the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, accompanied by the rumbling of earthquakes, and fiery fountains of earth shooting hundreds of feet into the sky. Whether you ascribe the cracks to the unpredictable behavior of the fire goddess Pele (who, according to traditional Hawaiian beliefs, currently resides in Kilauea’s great crater), a flare-up in the chronic rumblings of our planet’s mantle, or both, it’s clear that the blistering molten rock slithering across the island is having a dramatic impact on both the land and the people that live on it.

Read more...