“Hawaii’s biggest industry is its tourist industry. It seems likely to me that Hawaii’s tourist industry will largely disappear in the next few years, as oil prices rise.”

Gail Tverberg wrote those words the other day in her post to theoildrum.com.

Her conclusion flows logically from the Peak Oil premise – that world oil supplies will decrease at an increasing rate. Which means that transportation fuel will keep increasing, which means that planes and people will not be able to afford to fly.

But it is very hard to look at those words, let alone process them. There does not seem to be any relief in sight. In fact, we all know it will get a lot worse. Actually, it may never get better.

Hotels are slow, everyone is saying. And some of the reservations we are seeing now were made a long time ago. People expect that new reservations will be even scarcer.

What this means is that many, many jobs will be lost. What will happen to those families whose jobs vanish? Kids in tense households, where parents cannot make ends meet, will suffer. And it will get increasingly worse as time passes.

We must do something to help us transition into the next phase. It is no longer about us. Now it’s about the keiki and the generation after that. We must all rise above our agendas and focus on the future generations.

One thing we can all do is work together to bring the Thirty Meter Telescope here.

In brief, this is a new telescope proposed for the summit of Mauna Kea. It’s an enormous project, and there is controversy about it to match.

There have long been issues – very valid issues – with the telescopes on Mauna Kea, mostly focused on poor stewardship of the mountain, a lack of respect toward the Hawaiian culture, and the lack of benefit to our local communities. I acknowledge and recognize these problems one hundred percent.

I have been involved extensively in talks re: the possibility of this Thirty Meter Telescope being built on Mauna Kea. I volunteered for the Thirty Meter Telescope subcommittee nearly three years ago because I was determined that if it is built, it will be done the right way. It’s only because I have seen the very real possibility of things being very different this time that I have stayed involved.

I am not one to be naïve. Now, unlike what has happened in the past, I see very real potential for two important things to happen. In exchange for our practically unsurpassed location for astronomical observations, I see:

• The opportunity to set up a facilitated framework where a group of stakeholders guides the process.

• The possibility for the people of the Big Island – and our keiki – to directly and measurably benefit from this new telescope being located here.

We must make an honest effort to address the very real issues in a positive way, fix what needs to be fixed and move forward.

We need to set guidelines – if this telescope happens, it must be a Big Island initiative (not controlled by people sitting at desks on O‘ahu).

If we are all willing to sit down and work toward a common solution, we can both take care of Mauna Kea and also benefit from locating the Thirty Meter Telescope here.

Siting the Thirty Meter Telescope here can be a catalyst that allows our keiki to get a good education, as I see that educational benefits for our keiki can be negotiated. A good education will help our keiki figure out sustainable solutions to the decline in fossil fuels in this changing world they are inheriting. We must help them acquire the tools they need to become sustainable.

Perhaps some of our keiki will choose to study fields such as agriculture. Maybe one of them will figure out how to make nitrogen fertilizer from excess geothermal energy. It will take something like this to feed all of our people. Let’s give our children the best educations we can.

The Thirty Meter Telescope will take 10 years to build, and many people will be employed in the construction. It is projected to cost $750 million to build. But most of all, that would give us time to transition. We must all work to ensure that our society does not fall apart with desperation because there are no jobs.

These issues are no longer about us. Now they are about our keiki and future generations.

“Not, no can. CAN!” We owe it to them.