This experience is very much at odds with the everyday secular-humanist approach of Western thinking that emerged out of the Enlightenment (as I have discussed in a previous essay), and which sees no “magic” or “enchantment” in the world. It is as common sense as believing in gravity. It is a lived experience of oneness and connectedness with the natural and spiritual worlds. For many Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples, sacredness is not merely a concept or label. What is really at stake, however, is a conflict between two ways of knowing and being in the world. And while the current project has engaged in a lengthy public review process, including consultations with Native Hawaiian groups, the history has been far less sensitive to Native opinion. The existing white observatory buildings are readily seen (on clear days) from many parts of the island. The nearby town of Hilo takes pains to honor its neighbor and has low-intensity street lights to keep ambient light to a minimum.īut protests against construction on Mauna Kea have been going on for decades. (The Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics operates the Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea, but is involved in the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile's Atacama desert rather than this one on Mauna Kea.) The new TMT would enable astronomers to see “forming galaxies at the very edge of the observable Universe, near the beginning of time.”Īstronomy on Mauna Kea has been a boon to the University of Hawaii and brought income to the State. So it is also home to the world's largest, with 13 working telescopes operated by astronomers from 11 different countries. Its rugged peak, covered in small cinder cones or puʻu, is the home to a handful of Hawaiian deities.īut because the Hawaiian Islands lie far out in the middle of the Pacific, far from any continental landmass, and because the atmosphere is much cleaner and there is far less “light pollution” from urban areas, this makes Mauna Kea one of the best places on the planet for astronomical observatories. Either way, its summit is considered to be a most sacred-if not the most sacred-spot in the Hawaiian archipelago. “Mauna kea” means “white mountain,” but there are those who say it is short for “Mauna o Wakea,” the mountain of the Hawaiian deity Wākea. This massive dormant volcano rises 13,796 feet (4,205 m) above sea level and in the winter its top is often blanketed in snow. Mauna Kea is the highest peak in the Hawaiian islands. As astronomer Tom Kerr wrote back in 2011, "It seems to me that it's an argument about returning to the stone age versus understanding our universe and it'll be interesting to see who wins in the end." A group of scientists countered with a statement saying the message was unacceptable.įrom the outside, this argument may seem like another case of Native beliefs versus modern science. This week, a University of California, Berkeley professor sent around a petition in favor of the telescope with language in it that has incited charges of racism. Newspapers around the world are reporting the story and people are abuzz on social media-especially as the issue becomes more emotionally charged. The telescope has become a cause célèbre among Native Hawaiians and their allies, and the issue is going viral. At this moment all over the Hawaiian islands, but especially atop Mauna Kea volcano, there are protests against the building of a new Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) on this sacred mountain.
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