Tag Archives: Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea

Protest at the TMT Groundbreaking

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Richard Ha writes:

Tuesday morning was the groundbreaking ceremony for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The blessing took place – Kahu Kaniela Akaka blessed the four corners of the site – but the speeches, the cutting of the maile lei and the ‘o‘o symbolically breaking the ground had to be cancelled due to protestors.

I understand and am okay with folks expressing their passionate opinions. But I am very embarrassed that they attacked the foreign dignitaries at the ceremony, our guests, yelling at them close up and calling them thieves and snakes. That was truly bad manners.

It is not Hawaiian style. That made us all shame and reflected very, very poorly on all Hawaiians.

Kaliko Kanaele of the Royal Order of Kamehameha was present at the protest. The Royal Order’s mission statement says this:

The purpose of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I as it is known today is to unite in fraternal and benevolent work, men of Hawaiian descent, of good moral character, of sound bodily health; to cultivate the cardinal principles of friendship, charity and benevolence; to aid widows and orphans; to improve the social and moral conditions of its members; to provide scholarship assistance; to preserve and perpetuate the ancient culture, customs, and traditions of Hawai’i, uplift the Hawaiian people; infuse the spirit of patriotism, loyalty, helpfulness and kindness among its members; advance the interest of its members in every rightful cause, and to encourage and develop leadership.

I don’t see how protesting the TMT uplifts the Hawaiian people. The leadership of the Royal Order needs to do some soul searching, or else they should change the organization’s mission statement.

The TMT is one way of taking care of our people and our future. It provides jobs, money for the economy, money for our keiki’s education, furthers our scientific knowledge, and moves us and our families and our island forward.

There is more than one way to respect and honor our ‘aina and our ancestors and our mauna. Our people have always been brilliant and managed to honor the past at the same time they move forward and take advantage of the best of the present. I don’t know why people now are so hell bent on fighting to stay in the past.

Mayor Billy Kenoi was there; he spoke with the protestors and handled it well, trying to find common ground. He gave the police explicit instructors that no one got hurt and there would be no arrests. He handled it very well and I was proud of him. No one felt any danger. It was the manners part that was a big problem.

History, Mauna Kea

Amazing Video Clip on the Mountain!

Richard Ha writes:

One day when I was on the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board’s Thirty Meter Telescope committee, along with Roberta Chu and Bob Saunders, Bob asked me what my father’s name was. I told him, and he said, “I want to show you something.”

He had a CD of the PBS Hawaii video called First Light, which was about the building of the first telescope atop Mauna Kea. He played it for me and then stopped it and said, “Look at that! What is that?”

I was stunned. It was a video clip of my pop operating his bulldozer on the summit.

(Used here with permission of Leslie Wilcox/PBS Hawai‘i)

Back in 1964 or so, Pop had a contract to help build the road to the top of Mauna Kea. I was away at school then, so I don’t know all the details.

Here’s a clip from the video. Look at the name across the top of the TD 30 there: “Richard Ha.” That was my pop. I’m Junior.

Richard ha sr bulldozer

Life really has a way of coming full circle, doesn’t it!

Big Island, Education, Geothermal, Hydrogen, Lowering Electric Rates, Mauna Kea, Peak Oil, Science, Sustainability, Where We Live

A Big Picture Look

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Richard Ha writes:

Yesterday I sat in Judge Nakamura’s courtroom full of people both for and against the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) being built on Mauna Kea. I looked over at Kealoha Pisciotta, who has led the opposition all these years, and thought about how much I admire her.

As I sat there, I thought back to 2008, when rising oil prices started being such a big concern. At the top of my mind then was finding an economic alternative to tourism and opportunities for keiki education, both of which the TMT will provide. Locating the TMT here is a great opportunity, and I put a lot of effort into supporting it.

As I sat there yesterday, I thought, too, about how the TMT will help the Big Island cope with our rising energy costs and changing economy; because of it, money will flow into our economy instead of out. It will bring 10 years of construction jobs, and $1 million/year toward Big Island student education for each of more than 55 years. More importantly, it will bring to the Big Island an attitude of “Not, No Can. CAN!”

In 2007, I’d met Gail Tverberg at my first Peak Oil conference in Houston. A former insurance actuary whose job was to price insurance risk, she is someone who approaches the world oil supply problem from a risk management perspective. I helped bring her to the Big Island to give presentations, and she observed that our dependence on tourism makes Hawai‘i very vulnerable.

In 2008, shale and gas production hadn’t yet started in earnest. Natural gas prices were very high at $12/thousand cubic feet. According to a USDA analysis, there was an 80 percent correlation of natural gas price to ammonia fertilizer cost, and that had a frightening effect on local farmers. The price of natural gas dropped to $2/mcf, and now it’s around $4.50/mcf. This, coupled with a subsequent increase in natural gas supply, has given us some breathing room. But it’s only temporary.

We have another fairly unique opportunity to protect ourselves against seriously rising energy costs, which are already impacting our lives negatively and will continue to go up if we don’t make changes:

Geothermal energy.

After having attended five Association for the Study conferences (the only person from our state to do so) I’ve found that it’s all a matter of 1) cost, 2) what works and 3) comparative risk.

Geothermal addresses all three of those points. It’s inexpensive compared to using oil to produce our energy; we already know that it works; and after decades of experience with it here, the comparative risk is low.

It also allows the possibility of making hydrogen, which we can use to fuel our ground transportation, and also ammonia fertilizer for farmers. There are a lot of wins there.

Where We Live

A Farmer’s Perspective on Tropical Storm Flossie

Richard Ha writes:

We came away from Tropical Storm Flossie unscathed. We hope other farmers around the state were lucky, too.

I was up early this morning, and on my way to the farm I stopped by Hilo Bay to check out the storm. Last night they said it should arrive here around 6 a.m., and it sounded like it was going to be head on, coming straight at us.

We already know that 60 mph winds would take down our bananas, the ones in exposed places, and also our tomato houses. That’s why we planted our primary windbreaks to protect from north and south winds. They are serving that purpose well.

Because the sun moves across the sky somewhat to the south of directly overhead, we planted the windbreaks on the south sides of the roadways, so the shadows would fall on the road rather than on the plants. Farmers know that sun energy drives photosynthesis. Each leaf is a solar collector. But we must not restrict air movement too much, or fungus will thrive. There are lots of variables to consider.

So this morning around 6:00, I took these pictures at Hilo Bay. 

Sky1

I looked around and said, Holy smokes! The sun was coming up right behind me and I could see both mountains. I could see the top of Mauna Kea, and I could see the outline of Pepe‘ekeo point, clearly. That’s the point where the topography changes. 

Sky1

There was a north wind. The leading edge of the storm was blowing from the north. It wasn’t very strong, so I knew it was far away. Above the angry-looking clouds I could see blue sky, so it wasn’t very high and not very deep. That was significant.

Because we knew the storm was turning counter-clockwise, I predicted that as the storm went by it would increasingly be blocked by the slopes of Mauna Kea. As it kept moving and you could still see blue sky, sooner or later you would catch the back end of the storm where the wind starts blowing from the opposite direction. When it turned south, I thought, there did not appear to be much moisture-laden air to support heavy rainfall. 

Hamakua Springs

You could actually see it. I said early on that if this holds true to form, we should avoid the heavy rainfall we had expected. And that's how it turned out.

Farmers have to be able to do this sort of stuff. They’ve got to know how to watch the weather, and know how these things work, like planting windbreaks in the right places. We’ve seen what happens to plants that grow up against windbreaks. They don't grow as well without enough sun energy to support growth.

This morning we were at the farm, prepared for the worst-case scenario. We would have cut the ropes and let the plastic on our tomato houses fly,if necessary, instead of letting the wind twist the metal houses. Though if there was thunder and lightning, we wouldn’t have let our workers go out to do that. Worker safety comes first.

It’s very interesting to have seen it all happen and understood exactly what is going on.

Articles, Mauna Kea, Science

Suggested Reading: Kalepa Baybayan’s Thoughts on TMT

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by Leslie Lang, blog editor

Richard asked me to share this article here:

The search for knowledge on the summit of Mauna Kea is a sacred mission, by Chad Kalepa Baybayan.

This article just ran in West Hawaii Today, and Richard called it an “eloquent argument for common sense and practicality.”

Usually what I do here is reprint the first paragraph or so, and then affix a link so you can click over to read the rest.

But I found it amazingly difficult to excerpt this opinion article. It’s necessary so that we don’t impinge on the copyright, but it’s such a powerful article, every line of it, that it was truly hard to try to select just a bit of it.

So instead, here are a few thoughts pulled from different parts of the article that I hope will encourage you to go and read the whole thing.

“As explorers, Hawaiians utilized island resources to sustain their communities….They ventured to Mauna Kea, reshaped the environment by quarrying rock, left behind evidence of their work, and took materials off the mountain to serve their communities, with the full consent and in the presence of their gods.”

“I firmly believe the highest level of desecration rests in actions that remove the opportunity and choices from the kind of future our youth can own.”

“When it is completed, the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea will with greater accuracy and speed, vastly increase the capacity for the kind of scientific research vital to the quest for mankind’s future. It takes place on a sacred mountain; remains consistent with the work of our ancestral forebears; and is done to the benefit of tomorrow’s generations, here in Hawaii, and across the globe.”

Read the whole article here. Highly recommended.

Also, we once wrote about Kalepa at the blog, if you’d like to read more about him.

Related articles
Mauna Kea

Permit Granted to Thirty Meter Telescope!

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Richard Ha writes:

Big news! The State Board of Land and Natural Resources has just granted the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) a permit to build and operate its observatory on Mauna Kea. Read more at Hawaii 24/7.

We ran the following article here on the blog back in July 2009, at a much earlier phase of this project. It really explains it all and I’d like to share it with you again:

TMT Selects Mauna Kea, Promises Big Island $50 Million For Education

Initially published July 22, 2009

After deliberating for two days, the Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corp. board voted yesterday to site its new telescope here on Mauna Kea, not in Chile.

Although I’ve been working on this project for almost three years now, I was not prepared for the emotional rush that came when Henry Yang, president of the TMT, called to tell me of the decision.

All I could think about was how this would help our people launch their kids into the middle class. All that most of us want is for our kids to do a little better than we did.

The median family income in Hawai‘i is around $56,000. Here on the Big Island, it is $46,000. But on the east side of the Big Island, the median family income is in the mid-$30,000s. And in some communities it is in the low-$30,000s.

We all know that low family income is sometimes associated with social problems. And Hawaiian families occupy the lowest rungs on the family income ladder.

Education is directly related to family income. The more education, the higher the family income. Education is the great equalizer.

The Thirty Meter Telescope folks have pledged $1 million dollars annually for 50 years, which will be administered by carefully selected community members, primarily for K-12 education.

We all know that many of our students who enter college fail, or lower their aspirations, because they are not prepared to succeed. We want this TMT fund to prepare students to succeed.

So if we are truly interested in elevating our people and taking them away from drug problems, abusive relationships and other social ills, then we must help parents to launch their kids into the middle class. For those who are prepared to succeed, the sky is the limit.

My pop influenced me at an early age. When I was 10 years old, he inspired me with the attitude of “Not, no can. CAN!”  So I know the value of influencing elementary school kids. They are very impressionable, and with the right environment and the right teachers, anything is possible.

This is why we created the Adopt-A-Class project. Sometimes the Keaukaha School kids come to our farm on their excursions. I tell them stories and give examples of how a positive attitude can overcome any problem. And at the end of the tour when I yell out “Not, no can!” they all yell back: “CAN!”  Right on!

I see the annual $1 million Education Fund as a way of opening up kids’ minds and making them understand that they can do anything. We do not want our kids to wallow in victim-ism. That is waste time.

What we need is for them to have an optimism and a pride that our people were astronomers and the best navigators in the world. We want all kids, not just Hawaiians, to feel that high aspirations and goals are normal and not out of the ordinary.

The TMT leadership—Henry Yang and Jean Lou Chameau—listened to our advice very early on. They went and talked to community folks, like Kumu Lehua and Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, and they understood that the common denominator on which people on all sides of the issue could agree was the education of our keiki.

We have our eye on a goal, and so yesterday’s announcement that the TMT Board has decided on Mauna Kea for its new telescope is a huge, huge deal.

Big Island, Geothermal, History, Mauna Kea, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Guest Post: We Underestimate The Old Hawaiians

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By guest blogger Rodrigo Romo:

With every question that seems to stir up controversy (geothermal, the Thirty Meter Telescope [TMT], etc.), the way I see it is to ask: "What would Kamehameha (or the old Hawaiians) do?"

The old Hawaiians lived in harmony with what the land/sea provided them, making sure they took care of their resources and making sure they were not depleted.

Would the old Hawaiians bring oil from distant lands to meet their energy needs? Or would they take advantage of what the land and the gods provided them (geothermal, solar, wind, hydroelectric)?

The old Hawaiians were famous for their star-based navigational skills. If they had the chance to further understand the universe from the top of Mauna Kea, would they pass on that opportunity? Or would they take advantage of the privileged location they were given by the land/gods to learn more about the universe?

I think part of the problem is that people underestimate what the old Hawaiians would do in today's technologically advanced world, and many think that they would still live like they did prior to the arrival of Cook.

I don't think that is the case. They were incredible wise people from an environmental point of view. They understood that by living on an island their resources were extremely limited and that their environment was very delicate.

Because of modern-day technology, we tend to forget that. It's easy for us to go to the grocery store and buy tomatoes from California, peaches from Chile and Atlantic salmon. We turn on the switch and expect the light to come on, because we know that there will be a ship/plane coming over to deliver our goods; goods that were not produced here from the land.

People see geothermal or wind as an intrusion to the environment, but have no problem with burning fossil fuels that are brought in from thousands of miles away.

They worry about the impact that a geothermal well may have on the air quality, but never think about the consequences that an oil spill from a tanker would have on our corals and the life around them.

People see the TMT as an intrusion into sacred land (regardless of the telescopes already present) but fail to see the wonderful opportunities it will provide to local young future Hawaiian scientists to be in the lead of space exploration.

We can learn a lot from the ways of the past: An understanding of the real value of our local resources, and how delicate our environment is. Combining that understanding with advances in technology will lead the path to achieving, or at least to moving closer to becoming a sustainable community/culture.

Aloha.

Rodrigo Romo was a member of the second Biosphere 2 crew. He is currently VP of Engineering for Zeta Corporation, where he is involved in water conservation projects. He lives in Hilo with his family.

Government, Mauna Kea

The TMT Hearing Crowd

Richard Ha writes:

Lots of folks turned out before the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Tuesday morning for the final hearing for a Thirty Meter Telescope construction permit. Plenty folks for and plenty against.

As Patrick Kahawaiola‘a said, “It’s about the process. If you do not participate, you cannot grumble.” People were very respectful of each other.

There was an overflow crowd. This is what it looked like outside.

Here’s what it looked like just prior to the start of the hearing.

Since everyone contributed to the process, we must aloha each other, no matter on which side of the issue we happen to be on.

Adopt-a-Class, Schools

The Story of the Adopt-A-Class Project

When I first heard that the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) was interested in coming to Mauna Kea, I volunteered to be on the TMT committee of the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board (HIEDB). If the TMT was going to happen, I wanted to have a hand in making sure it was done right.

At the time, I was just a banana farmer minding my own business. But it was clear to me that I needed to learn more about the Hawaiian culture and the effect the TMT might have on the Hawaiian people, whose feelings about Mauna Kea were deep-rooted.

That led me to Keaukaha, the oldest Hawaiian Homes community on the Big Island, and to Keaukaha Elementary School, which is the center of the community’s social structure. Lehua Veincent was the school’s principal.

I thought I had a reasonable plan of action when I asked Kumu Lehua what he thought about asking the TMT folks to give Keaukaha Students five full-ride scholarships to the best schools in the nation. He looked at me, and in a gentle way he asked: “And what about the rest?”

I could feel my ears getting red. Indeed, what about the rest? That was a lesson I will never forget.

The TMT folks engaged HIEDB to do community outreach, and we had done that for about a year when they decided instead to engage the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa directly. But having met and liked the folks in the Keaukaha community, I continued to talk story with Kumu Lehua and then Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, President of the Keaukaha Community Association. Occasionally, I would drop by and give the kupuna bananas or tomatoes—whatever was in oversupply.

One day, I asked Kumu Lehua where the students go on excursions. He told me that they did not go on regular excursions; instead they walk around the community, because they did not have enough money for the school buses.

I thought that everybody went on excursions! Here we were in Keaukaha, the most Hawaiian of Hawaiian communities, looking up at the Hawaiians’ sacred mountain Mauna Kea where there are millions of dollars’ worth of telescopes, and the kids do not go on excursions because they cannot afford the bus?

I was speechless.

I thought, “This no can.” I called my friend Duane Kanuha, and we came up with the idea that we would start an Adopt-A-Class program. It would be designed like the Adopt-A-Child program one sees on TV, where for $25 or so, one could “adopt” a child, and the child would sent a note and photos, showing how his/her live improved.

We did some checking and decided to set $600 as the amount it would take to Adopt-A-Class so they could go on excursions. Three hundred dollars would be for the bus, and $300 would go toward entry fees for ‘Imiloa—Hilo’s world-class Hawaiian culture and science museum—should the teachers choose to take the students there.

We told the community about this, and they responded. We had all the classes from K-6 adopted, for both semesters, within four months. And they all started to go on excursions.

Chef Alan Wong was one of the first to get involved in the Adopt-A-Class program. One day he called me and said, “I want to go talk to the class I adopted.” This led to him visiting and presenting a class to the 6th graders. Leslie Lang wrote about it here on the blog:

…The principal of the school told me they never get people of such celebrity speaking to, and inspiring, their kids. Richard says that one of the teachers told him, too, that no one comes to Keaukaha Elementary to tell the kids they, too, can do it. He says the teacher had tears in her eyes when she told him that.

It was really an incredible morning. Read more

Alan Wong has a new book out, The Blue Tomato, which came about as a result of that visit to Keaukaha Elementary School.

The Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation heard about our Adopt-A-Class project and they took the idea islandwide. They were going to sponsor half of all students on the island to visit ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, but then the bus company heard about it and offered such a huge discount that instead they were able to pay for every student on the island, in every public, private and charter school.

During that one year that the TMT disengaged from dealing with Big Island folks, the feeling in the community was overwhelming that the TMT would be going to Chile, not coming to Hawai‘i. The TMT people were not successful when dealing directly with UH Manoa.

But Dr. Henry Yang, Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara and the new President of the TMT Corporation, wanted to assess the situation for himself. So along with his friend Dr. Jean Lou Chameau, President of Cal Tech University, he came to visit the Big Island.

I was at that meeting. Dr. Yang asked what I thought. I told him it would take a lot of work and they would need to talk to the community directly.

Henry is a “people person.” By the end of the meeting, I could tell he is the kind of person one could do business with on a handshake.

He and Jean Lou visited the Big Island at least 15 times after that, and because of the relationships I had built up in the Keaukaha Community with the Adopt-A-Class project, I was able to bring them to community meetings with the real, grassroot folks. To their credit, Henry and Jean Lou wanted to meet with even the most strident activists on the island.

They visited Keaukaha Elementary School four times. Can you imagine, the President of the TMT and the President of Cal Tech visiting Keaukaha School so many times that they became a fixture? As in: “Eh, where you guys going now? Come, come. Go eat!”

The relationship and the trust grew. Henry and Jean Lou started to understand that the lowest common denominator, on which folks on all sides of the issue could agree, was keiki education.

So one of the first foundation pieces they agreed to was committing $1 million per year for keiki education. It would start as soon as the construction permit was issued, and then continue through the construction period and for the life of the TMT. This is estimated to be 58 years.

Imagine, $58 million dollars for the education of our kids on the Big Island!

The TMT is applying now for the construction permit. If it is approved and we get the $58 million dollars for keiki education, it will be largely because people cared about other people, and sent kids on excursions just because it was the right thing to do.

My Pop used to tell me, “Get thousand reasons why no can. I only looking for the one reason why CAN!”