Richard Ha writes:

I attended all seven of the TMT scoping meetings. And I testified at each one, talking about sustainability, togetherness and planning for future generations. Yet, as meetings came to Hilo, where the most passionate of the speakers talked about past injustices, processes not followed, and betrayal – and where I talked about sustainability, education and future generations – a thought started to surface.

It was this: Hawaiians were the most accomplished navigators of their time. How appropriate for the greatest telescope in the world, and the greatest navigators in the world, to come together for future Hawaiian keiki to look up to and take pride in.

History books are full of tales about heroic mariners such as the Norseman Leif Ericson, Christopher Columbus of Spain, Ferdinand Magellan of Portugal and James Cook of England.

Lesser known are the accomplishments of the Polynesians – arguably the most skilled seamen of all – who were navigating the Pacific centuries before any European explorer left port.

From the Marquesas, those courageous pioneers sailed north more than 2,000 miles to settle the islands that we now call Hawai‘i. Amazingly, they made those epic voyages guided only by the stars, winds and ocean currents.

If the TMT folks listen to everyone’s concerns and take suggestions seriously – in, as they say, a new paradigm – there is a good chance we can honor the greatest navigators in the world with the largest and best telescope in the world on the most sacred mountain in the world—all for the benefit of generations of keiki to come.

Not, no can. CAN!

There was a scoping meeting about the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) at Kohala High School Monday night.

I thought the TMT did a good job going into the community and engaging the people right there where they live. They were considerate and did not presume to know what was best for the people. They said they came to listen and it was evident that they really did want to listen. These folks are a lot like us.

Joe Carvalho, Kohala community leader, welcomed people to the meeting. There were maybe 16 people present.

This next photo shows, left to right, Anneila Sargent, an astronomy professor from the California Institute of Technology, me, and Mark McGuffie of HIEDB. It is so interesting to listen to Anneila speak about astronomy. She loves the subject and it’s contagious.

David Tarnas, with his back to the camera here, was one of the facilitators. Here he was talking story with the students who were hired to help set up, sign people up and take down. It was good to have students from the community benefit, participate and get paid.

Alex Achmat, in this next photo, was persistent in asking questions about possible military applications. At the end of the night, he said he was satisfied that there was no military application. The TMT is being built specifically for the sake of science and discovery.

The photo shows that astronomers are people, too. Anneila and another astronomer, who is pushing a stroller.

At the end of the scoping meeting, people hung around talking story with each other. I hope that we can keep this tone throughout the discussion about the TMT.

My dad used to say, “There are a thousand reasons why ‘no can.’ I am only looking for one reason why ‘can’!” At this meeting, people were respectful of each other and were looking for common ground. It was very encouraging.