Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 2015 — In defense of Mauna Kea [ARTICLE]

In defense of Mauna Kea

Ahalf-hour film is in the works to educate audiences locally and abroad about the Thirty Meter Telescope. Currently under construction atop Mauna Kea on Hawai'i Island, the telescope known as TMT has split the eommunity. Some want to preserve the cultural sanctity of the peak and its environs; others see it as an opportunity to promote science, astronomy and boost the loeal economy. The film, by award-winning filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly of Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i fame, has a point of view. It wants to protect the mountain, home to an estimated 200 Hawaiian cultural sites. But in addition to interviewing its defenders, such as Vicky Holt īakamine and Jonathan Osorio, the film is reaching out to astronomers to tell their side of the story and ask the question "Why the mountain," whieh happens to be the working title of the film. As of press

time, there were no takers. Says co-producer Mary Aliee Ka'iulani Milham, a freelance writer for this publication: "Outside of Hawai'i, very few people know that that mountain is sacred, that it's the site of one of our creation stories," she says, calling it the eultural equivalent to Hawaiians what the Garden of Eden is to Christianity. "If people don't know that they can't be in defense of Mauna Kea. We wanted people to know those reasons, the environmental reasons, and engage people to be actively involved in defense of the mountain and in defense of stopping telescope development up there." A crowdfunding site is raising money to support the project, at www.gofundme.com/whythemountain. OHA trustees have seen value in the project, and have provided a small grant. More information about the film is online at whythemountain.blogspot.com. — LisaAsato I

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