Astronomers are giddy over the discovery of a previously unknown exoplanet that may have the correct conditions for hosting life as we know it.  Unfortunately, there's still no way to get there, as the discovery comes as we're covering this ever-warming planet in those non-biodegradable nespresso cups.

The international team led by scientists from Queen Mary University of London says "Proxima-b" is spinning around the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, which only earned its name from the Working Group on Star Names of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) earlier this week.  Although the smallest star in the system that is better known for its big brother Alpha Centauri is much cooler and smaller than our Sun, the planet Proxima-b orbits in the "Goldilocks Zone" - not too hot and not too cold - that might support the existence of liquid water". 

"There's no reason to know whether or not there is life there, but the fact that the planet exists and is in the zone where liquid water might exist on the surface is very exciting," said Professor Tim Bedding of the University of Sydney to the ABC.

But Proxima-b is 4.2 light-years away from our solar system, or 266,000 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.  Unless Zephram Cochran is waiting in the wings with a fully functional spacecraft with warp drive, we're not going to get a look at it anytime soon.  In fact, astronomers only know it's there because they detected a doppler wobble caused by the gravitational fields of the star and the planet dancing with each other.

Meanwhile on the planet we actually can see, it's looking more and more like we might have really screwed up.  Month after month, temperature records fall.  The latest climate data from NASA says that July 2016 was the hottest month in recorded history, beating the record set just 12 months earlier.  The US space agency combines sea surface temperature and air temperature on land.  It showed that July 2016 was 0.84 C degrees hotter than the average of every July from 1951 to 1980.  And last month was  0.11 C degrees hotter than the previous record set in July 2015.  And it continued a long string of monthly records.

So, with this planet rapidly warming and no planet to escape to, what do we do?  Cover it with crap, of course.  Specifically for this story, Nespresso cups. 

Australians spent AU$215 Million on those little coffee pods for their fancy espresso machines - part of an overall global market of $17 Billion.  And that means billions of discarded pods piling up in landfills.  Since they're made of plastic and aluminum, they're not going anywhere.  It takes 150 to 500 years for the the cups to start to break down. 

The former CEO of Nespresso thinks it has gone too far, and he's urging espresso consumers to rethink their drink.  Jean-Paul Gaillard now works at the "Ethical Coffee Company", which makes a biodegradable pod that breaks down in a landfill within eight months.

"This capsule doesn't contain one single molecule of petrochemical origin element. It is very difficult, a bit more expensive," said Mr. Gaillard, as quoted by the ABC.  "It was a tough challenge and I'll say we are slowly winning the war at this stage."