Fifty years ago last week, American science and technology put men on the moon. Today the world’s most powerful telescope cannot be built on the best site in the Northern Hemisphere because a few people want to take all of us back to the Stone Age with them.

The overwhelming majority of Hawaii’s people live in the present and want cutting-edge science to be part of their future. No one stops traditional practitioners from building ahus. Why do they think they have the right to stop scientists from building an instrument that will see back to the beginning of time?

Mauna Kea is sacred, and its sacred purpose is just what ancient Hawaiians did on the mountain: Observe the stars. In the 21st century this should be done by the Thirty Meter Telescope.

Elizabeth Novak

Pahoa, Hawaii island

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