The only way this Thirty Meter Telescope crisis can end well is for all Hawaii to heal the harms of the past and present.

For more than 200 years, the people, culture, and ‘aina have been mistreated in the name of progress — not by TMT, but by the culture of TMT, which values technology over spiritualism, ownership over sharing, and the built world over nature.

If we can all work honestly to make land and homes available to Hawaiian people, to make public education where most students are Hawaiian the best in the state, and to counter all the factors that cause Hawaiian people to have the poorest health outcomes, lowest incomes, highest homelessness, etc., maybe another telescope on the mauna won’t be so painful.

Anyone can sacrifice a special place for progress; our “gift to the world” should instead be a modern society that co-exists with, learns from, and honors, its indigenous culture.

Scott Rowland

Waimanalo

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