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HONOLULU — For greater than 50 years, telescopes and the wants of astronomers have dominated the summit of Mauna Kea, a mountain sacred to Native Hawaiian. It is also one of many most interesting locations on this planet to review the night time sky.
That is now altering with a brand new state legislation saying Mauna Kea should be protected for future generations and that science should be balanced with tradition and the surroundings. Native Hawaiian cultural consultants could have voting seats on a brand new governing physique, as a substitute of merely advising the summit’s managers as they do now.
The shift comes after hundreds of protesters camped on the mountain three years in the past to dam the development of a state-of-the-art observatory, jolting policymakers and astronomers into realizing the established order needed to change.
There’s quite a bit at stake: Native Hawaiian advocates wish to shield a web site of nice religious significance. Astronomers hope they will have the ability to renew leases for state land beneath their observatories, as a result of expire in 11 years, and proceed making revolutionary scientific discoveries for many years to return. Enterprise and political leaders are looking forward to astronomy to assist well-paying jobs in a state that has lengthy struggled to diversify its tourism-dependent financial system.
To prime if off, the brand new authority might provide a first-in-the-world take a look at case for whether or not astronomers can discover a option to respectfully and responsibly research the universe from Indigenous and culturally important lands.
“We have been right here for hundreds of years. We’re not gone; we’re nonetheless right here. And now we have information that might produce a possible administration answer that might be extra inclusive,” mentioned Shane Palacat-Nelson, a Native Hawaiian who helped draft a report that laid the inspiration for the brand new legislation.
At concern is the summit of Mauna Kea, which sits 13,803 ft above sea degree. In 1968, the state gave the College of Hawaii a 65-year lease for land that the varsity subleases to main world analysis establishments in trade for a share of statement time.
Astronomers like Mauna Kea’s summit as a result of its clear skies, dry air and restricted gentle air pollution make it the very best place to review house from the Northern Hemisphere. Its dozen enormous telescopes have performed key roles in advancing humanity’s understanding of the universe, together with making a number of the first pictures of planets exterior our photo voltaic system. Astronomer Andrea Ghez used one to show the existence of a supermassive black gap on the middle of our galaxy, for which she shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics.
However the telescopes have additionally modified the summit panorama and have more and more upset Native Hawaiians who view the place as sacred. The 2019 protests by individuals calling themselves “kia’i,” or protectors of the mountain, had been geared toward stopping the development of the largest and most superior observatory but: the $2.65 billion Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, backed by the College of California and different establishments.
Legislation enforcement arrested 38 elders, principally Native Hawaiians, which solely attracted extra protesters. Police withdrew months later after TMT mentioned it would not transfer ahead with building immediately. Protesters stayed put however closed camp in March 2020 amid considerations about COVID-19.
The episode pushed lawmakers to hunt a brand new method.
The result’s the brand new governing physique, the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, which could have a board of 11 voting members. The governor will appoint eight. Gov. David Ige hasn’t set a date for asserting his nominees, who will go earlier than the state Senate for affirmation. He mentioned greater than 30 have utilized.
Palacat-Nelsen mentioned conventional Native Hawaiian information may assist the authority decide how giant a footprint artifical buildings like telescopes ought to have on the summit.
“Can we take heavy steps? Can we take gentle steps? When can we take steps? What seasons can we take steps?” Palacat-Nelsen mentioned. “All that kind of information is embedded within the majority of our tales, our conventional tales that had been handed down.”
This isn’t simply the Huge Island concern, it isn’t only a state concern, however I consider it is a world concern. I consider that the world is watching to see how we take care of this.
The board could have this experience as a result of one member of the authority should be a acknowledged practitioner of Native Hawaiian tradition and one other a direct descendant of a Native Hawaiian practitioner of Mauna Kea traditions.
Central to the Native Hawaiian view of Mauna Kea is the concept that the summit is the place gods dwell and people aren’t allowed to stay. A centuries-old chant says the mountain is the oldest little one of Wakea and Papawalinu’u, the female and male sources of all life. To today, the mountain attracts clouds and rainfall that feeds forests and contemporary water to communities on Hawaii’s Huge Island.
Lawmakers drafted the legislation after a working group of Native Hawaiian cultural consultants, protesters, observatory employees and state officers met to debate Mauna Kea. Their report, which devoted a big chunk to the historic and cultural significance of the mountain, fashioned the inspiration of the brand new legislation.
A number of kia’i who served on that working group assist the authority. The Home speaker has nominated one kia’i chief for the board.
However some longtime telescope opponents are important, creating questions on how broad the authority’s neighborhood assist will probably be.
Kealoha Pisciotta, who has been a part of authorized challenges in opposition to the Thirty Meter Telescope and different observatory proposals since 1998, mentioned Native Hawaiians ought to at minimal have an equal standing on the board.
“You do not have an actual say. It is designed to create an phantasm of getting consent and illustration in a state of affairs the place we actually do not,” mentioned Pisciotta, a spokesperson for the teams Mauna Kea Hui and Mauna Kea Aina Hou.
Lawmakers mentioned the strain to handle Hawaii’s telescope standoff is not simply coming from throughout the state but in addition from the U.S. astronomy neighborhood.
State Rep. David Tarnas pointed to a report by a committee of astronomers from throughout the nation declaring there is a have to develop a brand new mannequin of collaborative decision-making along with Indigenous and native communities.
“This isn’t simply the Huge Island concern, it isn’t only a state concern, however I consider it is a world concern,” mentioned state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim. “I consider that the world is watching to see how we take care of this.”
The brand new telescope concern, in the meantime, stays unresolved: Its backers nonetheless wish to construct on Mauna Kea, although they’ve chosen a web site in Spain’s Canary Islands as a backup.
The top of the College of Hawaii’s astronomy program mentioned the authority may assist his personal establishment if it “stabilizes the entire state of affairs” for Mauna Kea astronomy.
However Doug Simons mentioned he is frightened the authority may not stand up and working in time to resume the summit grasp lease and subleases.
The grasp lease requires that each one current telescopes be decommissioned and their websites restored to their authentic state by 2033 if the state would not authorize an extension.
Simons mentioned it is going to take at the very least 5 or 6 years to dismantle the telescopes and related infrastructure. Meaning new lease preparations should be prepared by 2027 or the observatories must start winding down.
“There is not any apparent manner round this,” Simons mentioned. He mentioned he is urgent for the authority to be established as quickly as attainable to maximise time for negotiations and inevitable authorized challenges.
Wealthy Matsuda, who works for W.M. Keck Observatory and served on the working group, urged the eventual board members to keep away from being “stakeholders with slim pursuits simply making an attempt to make sure that they get their piece of the pie.”
Tensions over telescope building, he mentioned, triggered individuals to lock down and keep away from discussing tough points surrounding Mauna Kea. The brand new legislation’s prioritization of the mountain’s nicely being might alter that, he mentioned.
“My hope is that this offers us an opportunity, if we do it proper, to vary that dynamic,” Matsuda mentioned.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Ask anyone in the United States, “What day is Independence Day celebrated?” and most would respond with “July 4.”
They’re referring to the date in 1776 when the U.S. declared its independence from Great Britain.
But in 1843, the Hawaiian Kingdom had its own Independence Day, called Lā Kūʻokoʻa, celebrated on Nov. 28.
The day marks the formal recognition of Hawaiʻi’s independence by Great Britain and France.
But Lā Kūʻokoʻa, along with much of Native Hawaiian culture and history, was lost after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom 50 years later.
“They are not taught in the schools. They are not in the history books,” said Native Hawaiian historian Kauʻi Sai-Dudoit.
“In the early 1900s, posted in every government office during the territorial days, there were signs that hung in every government office that said, ‘Speak English, the language of America,’” Sai-Dudoit said.
John Waiheʻe, the state’s first and only Native Hawaiian governor, said he only recently learned about the holiday.
“We weren’t taught that much about Hawaiian history,” he said. “We didn’t have it in schools.”
Last year, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education said, “Currently the department does not have any curriculum or standards that address the topic of Lā Kūʻokoʻa.”
This year, it says it has added resources about Lā Kūʻokoʻa to its curriculum design website, but its up to teachers and schools to formulate their own curriculum:
“The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) Core Standards in social studies provide a flexible framework that allows teachers to tailor learning experiences to their students’ unique needs. HIDOE’s curriculum design website offers resources on Lā Kūʻokoʻa, accessible to all HIDOE educators. These Lā Kūʻokoʻa resources align with the key learning outcomes outlined in the required Modern History of Hawaiʻi course. This year, a concerted effort was made to inform all teachers about the added curriculum resources on Lā Kūʻokoʻa. There is nothing preventing teachers from including a Lā Kūʻokoʻa curriculum into their course studies. Curriculum is set by individual schools and teachers to best meet the needs of their students.”
In the last year, at least half a dozen public schools, not including Hawaiian language immersion schools, teach the holiday. One of them is Julie Reyes Oda, who taught the holiday last year at Nānākuli Intermediate and High School.
She told HNN she personally hasn’t met any other teacher who teaches the holiday.
“I don’t think any if they weren’t at a Hawaiian immersion school,” said Reyes Oda.
Waiheʻe and three other former Hawaiʻi governors are now coming out in support of the holiday’s teaching: Ben Cayetano, Neil Abercrombie, and David Ige.
“Kids especially need to know about the past, the full past. Right now they aren’t getting it, I think,” said Cayetano.
“As you accumulate knowledge, whether it’s about Hawaiian history or anything else, you accumulate it, you correlate it, and you pass it on,” said Abercrombie.
“I don’t think there should be any limitation,” said Ige.
“I think it ought to be encouraged and part of the curriculum,” said Waiheʻe. “Young people growing up in Hawaiʻi ought to know what our history and what our legacy is all about.”
Hawaiʻi’s current governor and first lady are echoing the sentiments of support. A statement from Gov. Josh Green read:
“In April of last year, I signed SB731 into law, officially designating November 28 as Lā Kū‘oko’a. This annual commemoration holds deep significance for both me and the First Lady, who is Native Hawaiian, as it honors the often-overlooked recognition of the Kingdom of Hawai’i’s independence. We deeply appreciate the educators who incorporate the DOE’s curriculum into their lessons, highlighting Hawai’i’s unique distinction as the only U.S. state with a sovereign royal monarchy in its history.”
Although the HIDOE has yet to commit to changes to its current standards that look at more comprehensive Hawaiian history, the work by the Hawaiian people to restore their culture is reaching new heights.
In the past several years, Lā Kū‘oko’a celebrations happening from atop Mauna Kea, the streets of Honolulu, and across the island chain. They reflect a generation wanting to reconnect to the foundation their ancestors left for them.
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Twelve miles south of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, the brilliant blue water of Kealakekua Bay is popular with visitors who want to snorkel among its marine life and learn Hawaiian history. Visually striking, a soaring cliff face embraces the bay, which saw British explorer Captain James Cook’s last voyage and violent death in 1779.
However, that historic moment in time is but one of the controversies circling Kealakekua Bay.
The island’s largest bay is part of Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park, which also includes Napoopoo Beach; Kaawaloa, a historic fishing village; and Hikiau Heiau, an ancient place of worship still used for ceremonies today. About 115,000 people visit the approximately 537-acre park annually, according to the most recent study from 2007. Most arrive by boat to snorkel and view the Captain Cook monument, a white obelisk constructed in 1874 near the spot where he was killed. Others hike down a steep trail.
Similar to Hanauma Bay on Oahu, Kealakekua Bay is a Marine Life Conservation District, protecting the historically significant and ecologically delicate area. Still, some visitors disregard its fragile ecosystem and cultural sites, treating them like a theme park, even as locals and marine life continue to call Kealakekua home.
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Hikiau Heiau is an ancient Hawaiian temple on the shoreline of Kealakekua Bay.
©fitopardo/Getty ImagesSome visitors have demonstrated problematic behavior: walking on protected coral while snorkeling or swimming, bothering protected species, littering or entering the sacred heiau. In one egregious example, a Maui man chased an adolescent humpback whale and dolphins there in 2023; he was later cited for wildlife harassment.
For residents, one of the biggest concerns is visitors trampling the fragile and living reef, Frank Carpenter, the co-owner of Kealakekua Bay tour company Kona Boys, told SFGATE. Kealakekua Bay’s delicate coral reef is home to myriad species of marine life and serves as shelter, feeding and spawning grounds for rare tropical fish, along with other aquatic creatures. According to a Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology study, many reef fish make Kealakekua Bay their permanent home.
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To protect marine life, companies like Kona Boys — one of only a few companies authorized by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to lead tours and rent kayaks in the bay — begin by educating visitors. A Kona Boys tour starts with a talk on Kealakekua’s history, deep cultural roots and ecological awareness, including not standing on living coral.
“It’s not only historically significant, it’s a sacred spot, so it’s really important that you enter it with respect and that you’re coming in there with the right intent and you’re educating the people you’re taking, not only on the marine life and the ecological aspects but also on the cultural aspects,” Carpenter said. “In my opinion, it’s critical that people go with authorized, reputable guides. It’s unfortunate, but some operators are just in it for the money.”
The white obelisk monument at Kealakekua Bay was constructed in 1874 near the place where British explorer Captain James Cook was killed.
imageBROKER/Thomas Lammeyer/Getty Images/imageBROKER RFLocals often step in to help educate visitors, with varying degrees of success. Carpenter, a resident of Kealakekua Bay who also serves on the board of several conservation-focused nonprofits, explained some people are receptive to correction when a local lets them know that coral is a living organism that can be easily damaged when walked upon. Those visitors may apologize, but others are defensive and uncaring.
“It’s really difficult because the way things are right now, there’s not really any enforcement down there because the state doesn’t have enough staff to be down there monitoring it, and it puts us in a really delicate situation because we want to educate people, but a lot of people down there aren’t open to that,” Carpenter said.
Having visitors understand that coral is a living, symbiotic organism is vital to the bay’s ongoing health.
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“I feel so privileged every time I come into that bay to be working in a place of such historical, cultural and biological significance. It’s an incredibly special place,” Julia Rose, the coral restoration program manager for the Nature Conservancy, told SFGATE. “Having some level of reverence when you’re in that space … the corals on the reef, some of those corals were probably there when Captain Cook was there.”
About 115,000 people visit Kealakekua Bay every year. The majority of them come by boat to snorkel in its waters.
Hotaik Sung/Getty Images/iStockphotoIn 2020, the Hawaii Tourism Authority released its current Destination Management Action Plan (DMAP) for the island of Hawaii and invited community voices such as Conservation International Hawaii Senior Program Manager Ulu Ching into the planning process. The tourism authority’s DMAPs are, as Ching told SFGATE, a “literal road map for how to care for an area.”
Ching said that like many others in Hawaii, she has “a love-hate relationship with tourism,” pointing out that while tourism “can be something of a blessing in terms of being an economic driver,” there was also “the extractive nature of tourism, the painting over of really important native narratives of the places where tourism is integral to economy.”
“It has opened up Hawaii to the world in a way that we — the people of Hawaii — haven’t had control or input into how we’ve been opened up,” she said. For more than 100 years, she added, the tourism industry has been economically dominant in Hawaii, and the residents and Native Hawaiian people want the industry to prioritize their stories, people and places over monetary boons.
Shifting to more regenerative tourism is critical for places such as Kealakekua Bay. February 2024 saw the first coral restoration project there, dubbed Kanu Koa, and the community took part in the regeneration of the life form considered sacred in Hawaiian culture for being among the planet’s first.
On that day in February, Rose and other divers harvested and rescued coral bits that had broken off with little chance of survival. They were then brought to the surface and passed down a line of community members in attendance. Using marine epoxy, divers fastened the pieces to living coral of the same species over 10-by-10-meter lots. When pieces are given a firm foothold on something else, the regeneration of the coral can be successful.
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Walking on the coral is only one type of disrespectful behavior seen from visitors to Kealakekua Bay. By involving community stewards, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources hopes to promote better understanding among visitors.
A generational Kealakekua Bay resident, Shane Akoni Nelsen can trace his lineage in the bay back 500 years. He explains that his ancestors welcomed people from across the globe for centuries, which is part of Kealakekua Bay’s historic significance. He fished as a child, with his community subsisting on fare from the ocean, working together to malama (care for) the land and water. Then, the fish they caught for food began to taste like the sunscreen that coated most visitors entering the water, given the burgeoning tourism industry.
Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park is an approximately 537-acre park, which includes the 315-acre bay along with Napoopoo Beach, Kaawaloa and Hikiau Heiau.
RASimon/Getty Images/iStockphotoNelsen leads the community stewardship nonprofit Hoala Kealakekua Nui. He said that the vision for the organization is to “ … restore balance that’s relevant for us today, for the Native peoples that still live down there and struggle to live there today, and to still have the visitor piece.”
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“My entire life, about three or four generations, we have been disconnected from stewarding our place because of the MLCD and for the purpose of engaging tourism in the bay because of its historical significance and its pristine marine waters,” said Nelsen, “but [eventually] the lineal descendants were no longer able to provide subsistence … not just in certain areas, but also because of impacts from the tourism industry.”
Hoala Kealakekua Nui operates under an agreement with DLNR to help steward the land and its resources. Nelsen and his team partnered with the Nature Conservancy to create a multifaceted Community Action Plan that was released in 2022 to help the area’s natural resources thrive again.
The plan stated that the bay’s top threat was people acting disrespectful toward residents and the bay’s natural and cultural resources. It also said people are trespassing and overpromoting the bay through social media, which contributes to overcrowding. Coral restoration was deemed a critical action item by all involved.
For generational residents like Nelsen, there is a reverence for the area, which remains a final resting place for their ancestors and a ceremonial space where traditions are still honored. Nelsen and his team wanted to integrate traditional knowledge and practices into the tourism industry along with DLNR’s recently approved Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park master plan. It calls for incorporating Hawaiian cultural practices and values into its strategies; adding interpretive programs to promote visitor “understanding, awareness, appreciation, and respect for the significant historic, cultural and natural resources of Kealakekua;” and including local knowledge and stewardship in its management.
“It’s important because if you don’t recognize the Native peoples, their culture and their subsistence, then it’s not part of the management. It’s not included in the vision,” Nelsen states. “We’re still well and alive, we’re not historical and preserved, we’re still there struggling to exist.”
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Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.
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Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te will stop over in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during a trip to the Pacific, his office said Thursday, eliciting a fresh vow from China to “resolutely crush” any attempts for Taiwan independence.
China insists democratic self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and opposes any international recognition of the island.
Lai will depart Saturday for a visit to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — the only Pacific islands among Taiwan’s 12 remaining allies.
It will be Lai’s first overseas trip since taking office in May.
Taiwanese government officials have previously stopped over on US soil during visits to the Pacific or Latin America, angering Chinese leaders in Beijing.
Lai will spend two nights in Hawaii and one night in Guam, meeting with “old friends” and “think tank members”, a source in the Presidential Office told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
Communist China, which has never governed Taiwan, has sought to erase it from the international stage, blocking it from global forums and pressuring companies to list the island as a “Chinese province” on their websites.
Taiwan competes as Chinese Taipei in international sports events and Beijing bristles when Taipei officials meet with foreign politicians or government representatives.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Thursday that Lai’s planned visits were “separatist actions”.
“We have consistently opposed official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan… and any form of the US condoning and supporting Taiwan independence separatists and their separatist actions,” Mao said at a regular press conference.
Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China’s defence ministry, also said “the Chinese (military) shoulders the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
“(The military) will resolutely crush all secessionist attempts for Taiwan independence,” Wu told a news conference.
– Haemorrhaging allies –
In recent decades, Taiwan has haemorrhaged allies as they jumped ship to an ascendant China, which has deeper pockets to provide aid and investment.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important partner and main security backer but does not recognise Taipei diplomatically.
Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen transited through Hawaii and Guam during her first official visit to Pacific allies in 2017.
Tsai also met then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California in April 2023 during a Latin America trip, to which Beijing responded with military drills around the island.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have escalated since Lai took office in May.
Lai and Tsai both belong to the Democratic Progressive Party, but Lai has been more outspoken in his defence of the island’s sovereignty and Beijing calls him a “separatist”.
The dispute between Beijing and Taipei dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces lost a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to Taiwan.
China has refused to rule out the use of force to seize Taiwan and in recent years has ramped up military activity around the island to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty.
Though Taiwan has its own government, military and currency, it has never formally declared independence and lives under the constant threat of invasion by China.
The United States and China have long butted heads over Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, which has evolved into a vibrant democracy and powerhouse in the semiconductor industry.
bur-amj/dhc
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