pyrax: SSLError: bad handshake: Error([('SSL routines', 'SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE', 'certificate verify failed')],)

Attempting to use django-cumulus, and a fresh install yields:

ERROR:root:Pyrax Connect Error in `django_cumulus.cumulus.authentication.Auth`::
                           self.pyrax.set_credentials(self.username, self.api_key)

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/cumulus/authentication.py", line 51, in __init__
    self.pyrax.set_credentials(self.username, self.api_key)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/__init__.py", line 439, in _wrapped
    return fnc(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/__init__.py", line 502, in set_credentials
    tenant_id=tenant_id, region=region, authenticate=authenticate)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/identity/rax_identity.py", line 68, in set_credentials
    region=region, tenant_id=tenant_id, authenticate=authenticate)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/base_identity.py", line 420, in set_credentials
    self.authenticate()
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/identity/rax_identity.py", line 83, in authenticate
    password=password, api_key=api_key, tenant_id=tenant_id)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/base_identity.py", line 599, in authenticate
    headers=headers, std_headers=False)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/base_identity.py", line 531, in method_post
    return self._call("POST", uri, admin, data, headers, std_headers)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/base_identity.py", line 570, in _call
    return pyrax.http.request(mthd, uri, verify=self.verify_ssl, **kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pyrax/http.py", line 63, in request
    resp = req_method(uri, data=data, **kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/api.py", line 107, in post
    return request('post', url, data=data, json=json, **kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/api.py", line 53, in request
    return session.request(method=method, url=url, **kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 468, in request
    resp = self.send(prep, **send_kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 576, in send
    r = adapter.send(request, **kwargs)
  File "/Environments/easy/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 447, in send
    raise SSLError(e, request=request)
SSLError: bad handshake: Error([('SSL routines', 'SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE', 'certificate verify failed')],)

This appears to be a resurrection of https://github.com/rackspace/pyrax/issues/545