Get mad about poor education

I happened by the rally at Iolani Palace against the Thirty Meter Telescope last Sunday.

Speakers talked of tradition, culture, laws, tragedy, unfairness and 1893 more than the telescope. 

Fueling conflicts is not productive in 2015. They offer black or white only, but there are no simple answers to complex problems, only intelligent choices. 

Where the telescope is concerned, compromise. Dismantle two or three of the old ones and replace them with this new one, which will benefit all of us, and reduce the footprint on the mountain. 

If we could only be as mad about the lousy education our kids are getting. We need astrophysicists, astronomers and innovative environmentalists who will benefit all of humanity. We adults are too busy keeping ancient biases and history alive to instill the curiosity necessary for today’s kids to excel. 

Shame on us.

Gary DuBrall
Waikele

Sacredness lies in knowledge

I am not Hawaiian, so I don’t claim to appreciate the sacredness of Mauna Kea as its protectors do. And I hope my ignorance does not offend anyone.  

But the essence of sacredness to me is uniqueness that has inherent importance of the greatest, highest kind. And isn’t giving mankind its first knowledge of the universe’s very beginning a benefit that has inherent importance of the greatest, highest kind? Doesn’t that make Mauna Kea’s sacredness real and actual to all mankind?  

So rather than considering the Thirty Meter Telescope a violation of Mauna Kea’s sacredness, isn’t it an undeniable affirmation of Mauna Kea’s sacredness?

Mauna Kea will be literally mankind’s first direct connection to creation. That can’t be sacrilegious, can it? Won’t that make Mauna Kea an even more sacred place, respected and revered by the whole world?

Lunsford Dole Phillips
Kailua

A yearning to know more

Human eyes have scoured the skies for millennia, tracing their myths in the constellations, tracking the paths of the planets, gradually comprehending the complexity of the galaxies, always seeking to solve the mystery of our existence. Who are we? Where did we come from? What is the nature of the universe? These are the questions that have always preoccupied religion and science.  

Now, on Mauna Kea, the construction has begun of a telescope that will be able to look back 13 billion light years to witness the formation of  galaxies and the birth of stars. What project could be more sacred? What location more appropriate? 

Can science and tradition meld here? They are both paths to the same end — some revelation of the ancient mysteries, some increase in scientific know-

ledge, but always wonder at the awful immensity of our universe and always respect for those who preceded us, who experienced the same yearning to know, to understand, to grow.

Joan Weisskopf
Kapolei

A spiritual place for navigators

I am a seaman and navigator. Navigators study the heavens in awe. Even if you’re not a navigator, studying the heavens can be a spiritual experience.  

There is no better place to study the heavens than atop Mauna Kea. Think of the knowledge that will be lost if this spiritual place was not to be used for its best purpose. 

Can we agree that the study of the heavens is spiritual and advances knowledge of us all?  

Let the tool of knowledge proceed.

Jack Laufer
Kailua

Esoteric studies won’t help us

Concerning the protectors of Mauna Kea and the Thirty Meter Telescope: Let’s fast-forward a few years to the projected completion date of the TMT project. 

What is the projected goal of the telescope? As repeatedly stated, to see into or before the beginning of time, to the concept called a singularity — that is, what there was before there was anything, before the Big Bang. 

This singularity theoretically “exists” somewhere on the outer fringes of the universe. To my mind, that’s what religions and their churches are for: to satisfy this curiosity of all curiosities.  

What is to be gained for this troubled planet with this esoteric information? A handful of astrophysicists, astronomers and celestial busybodies may sigh a breathe of relief or satisfaction. For most of us, we will be left with, “And so what?”

Tomas Belsky
Hilo

Compromise on telescopes

The Thirty Meter Telescope confrontation on Mauna Kea may be resolved if the state and the protestors could agree on a compromise in the construction of the new telescope.  

Being part Hawaiian, I can understand the cultural and spiritual aspects this new telescope on Mauna Kea will be impacting. But I also believe in the huge educational and economic benefits to Hawaii and our youth this telescope will provide in the future.

 There are already a number of telescopes on Mauna Kea, and some of them will be decommissioned in the future. Would it be feasible to build this new telescope to replace redundant telescopes already occupying sacred grounds? Hopefully, some sort of compromise may be the solution.

Hal Omori
Mililani

Mauna Kea will always be there

My spiritual leader, Hannah Veary, taught me many years ago that our understanding of nature and of the gods has to change and grow. 

I suggest that the building of yet another scientific building on the mountain is a sign of respect and honor. 

We all know that the things people build will wear away to dust, and the mountain will be there in all its majesty when we are long gone. But for now, the use as an outpost to gain more knowledge of our universe is respectful and honorable. 

There are hundreds of mountains in this world that could hold these scientific outposts. But the scholars are drawn to Mauna Kea because it is a sacred place and holds a great aloha for those who seek knowledge.

Anela Poorbaugh
Lower Makiki

A great honor to host telescope

It is a great honor for our Mauna Kea to be chosen among all the other majestic summits in the world to be the site of the world’s most advanced optical telescope. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Please do not throw it away.

The Native Hawaiian ancestors learned how to navigate their canoes in the Pacific Ocean by studying the stars in the night sky. It was that knowledge that helped them to get home safely. Therefore, one may feel that their spirits would be happy to give the future telescope on Mauna Kea their blessings.

Cecilia Graybeal
Punchbowl

Taxpayers have a stake in project

I hope that Gov. David Ige, the board of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the assorted protesters of the recently started construction of a telescope on Mauna Kea are cognizant of and fully consider the impact on us mere taxpayers of a cancellation of that project.  

The project received appropriate government approvals and the support of OHA, and reaffirmation of that approval upon a subsequent challenge. The cost will be in the tens, more likely hundreds, of millions of dollars in cancellation costs and damages for monies spent with no ultimate benefit for the developers and their contractors.  

If the project is canceled, these costs will be immense and all paid for by, you guessed it, us taxpayers. 

Jim Pollock
Kaneohe

Protesters aren’t ignorant

An Off the News item (“On social media, stars against the telescope,” April 14) seems to be saying that because of all the time and money put into the lengthy regulations process that went into the approval of the Thirty Meter Telescope, that people are taking a stand against it ignorantly. 

The person who wrote the article, in my opinion, has no clue about the bottom line of the protesters. Sometimes wrong is just wrong and right is just right. Is it life-and-death if this telescope is not installed? 

Are a “small” group of indigenous people and their supporters stupid and ignorant for believing something (Mauna Kea) is sacred and worthy of protection?

Alejandro Guitron
Kailua

Will feds take over summit?

Is it beyond the realm of reality to wonder if the protectors of Mauna Kea are inadvertently inviting federal intervention? 

The federal government already controls the summits of Mauna Loa, Kilauea and Haleakala. The summit of Mauna Kea can also be seen to warrant federal jurisdiction, both for protection of its native species and for its value as a national and world resource.

Institutions and agencies of several countries are already involved in using Mauna Kea for celestial exploration. Other countries are standing in line.

Arguments can certainly be made by the departments of State, Defense and Interior that federal jurisdiction is warranted and in the national interest. 

The issue risks being characterized as a conflict between an international community of scholars and futurists, seeking to use Mauna Kea as a platform to look up and unlock the secrets of the universe, against an insular opposition looking down at their bare feet stuck in purportedly sacred cinders.

Huddy T. Lucas
Makiki