Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

Protest at Santa Monica Pier Against Thirty Meter Telescope Planned for Mauna Kea

Hawaiian volcano is considered the physical form of the gods, son of the sky father and the earth mother

What participants described as a spontaneous protest against the University of Hawaii's Thirty Meter Telescope atop the worlds highest mountain, Mauna Kea, reached the Santa Monica Pier Sunday morning.

"Why are people rallying against TMT?" Reads a flyer passed out by the protesters "University of Hawaii's decades of poor management of Hawaii's natural resources and prioritizing economic interests ahead of community interests, has resulted in a large opposition to TMT."

The protests are in part religiously motivated. The native Hawaiian creation story takes place on the volcano that formed Mauna kea. But in part they are based on practical objections to development at the remote summit.

"Cultural practitioners an environmentalist have numerous concerns about the impact the facility would have a natural resources according to the final environmental impact statement, the facility would regularly store large amounts of domestic and chemical waste on site prior to removal."

It should be noted that the summit of Mauna Kea is perhaps the best site on the planet for astronomers to observe the night sky. Light pollution is limited and from base to summit, Mauna Kea is the highest mountain on the planet.

Those interested in this cause are encouraged to follow the following on twitter: #protectmaunakea #wearemaunakea #kukiaimauna #caformaunakea and to learn more at http://www.caformaunakea.com

With its high elevation, dry environment, and stable airflow, Mauna Kea's summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation. Since the creation of an access road in 1964, thirteen telescopes funded by eleven countries have been constructed at the summit. The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for scientific research across the electromagnetic spectrum and comprise the largest such facility in the world. Their construction on a landscape considered sacred by Native Hawaiians continues to be a topic of debate to this day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea

 

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