UC should continue supporting Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea
We agree with The Daily Californian’s editorial board that astronomy on Maunakea is an important topic for the UC system. However, the editorial opposing the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT, project massively misinforms readers and marginalizes the voices of Hawaiians and lifelong and recent Hawai’i residents who support this telescope, despite pressure to stay silent voices like ours.
The editorial begins with a highly incendiary illustration, implying that the construction of the TMT project either completely removes a pu’u (cinder cone) on Maunakea or the top of the mauna itself (with conspicuously white hands). Neither implication is true. As shown in this figure, the site of the TMT project is a flat lava plain far away from culturally significant sites on Maunakea. Its area is roughly equal to the UC system-supported Keck Observatory, minuscule compared to the adze quarry complex created by ancient Hawaii