A snowstorm in July

            The picture above was taken on Mauna Kea on the morning of July 17, 2015. An early snow even for Mauna Kea although we have thrown snow balls before in July. So tropical Hawaiʻi beats most other areas in the country for the earliest snowfall.

Controversy on Mauna Kea

            Perhaps you have read of the controversy regarding the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope(TMT) on Mauna Kea, a project which would result in the largest telescope in the world being located there. A group of Hawaiians has protested the construction and blocked the road to the summit preventing, not only the construction crew, but everyone else from reaching the observatory area. The number of protesters has overloaded the Visitor Center, forcing it to close. It appears that the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees Mauna Kea, has established rules which may allow access and construction to proceed for at least a few months. As a scientist I am in favor of the project and so come from that perspective. However, both sides of the controversy area a result of a position which does not engender trust and reliability.

            First, the observatories have not been trustworthy in their approach to the mountain. In the late 1990's the Keck Observatory developed a plan to have outlier telescopes around their building. They began construction without obtaining the proper permits. That action brought an already simmering resistance to the observatories to a boil. There was outrage which resulted in the outlier telescope plan being abandoned. That action, however, galvanized the resistance into the group which now opposes the Thirty Meter Telescope.

            Secondly, the observatory resistance group also has an historical perspective that really doesn't match what they say they are doing. The objection is supposedly due to the fact the Mauna Kea is a sacred place in the Hawaiian religion and should not be desecrated. However, King Kamehameha II, in 1819, outlawed the Hawaiian religion and had many of its structures demolished. This was before the arrival of missionaries in the islands. You can read about it in my book. So the Hawaiian Kingdom did not recognize the old religion. It has been almost 200 years since the religion has been recognized.

            Also, in the ancient religion sacred areas were not accessible to commoners. Violators were immediately put to death. Only the royals and priest were allowed on the mountain. Interestingly, however, a manufacturing facility was located on the mountain. An adze quarry was established there so the artisans and their supply line were given permission to climb the mountain and work there. It is not often that one finds a manufacturing facility located in a sacred place.

            There has also been another interesting development. As a consequence of the protest the Governor has decreed that as new telescopes are built old ones must be removed. The University of Hawaiʻi has decided that the first observatory to be dismantled would be their teaching telescope. That is logical since the research observatories contribute millions of dollars to the University and the Hawaiian economy while the teaching telescope only costs money. Of course that affects the students. The protestors say they didn't mean for that telescope to be dismantled (an unintended consequence of their action). As the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for." Logic, however, says that if observatories desecrate the mountain, then all telescopes should come down removing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars from the economy of Hawaiʻi. These are, indeed, interesting times.