Pop superstar Bruno Mars and Aquaman star Jason Momoa have joined native Hawaiians who are protesting the construction of a state of the art telescope on the summit of the Mauna Kea inactive volcano because it violates “sacred land.”
Page Six reported:
Hawaii-born Mars, 33, is the latest celebrity to throw support behind the ongoing protests against a proposed telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea mountain, posting a picture of protesting elders on the blocked Mauna Kea Access Road on Wednesday and writing on Instagram: “I love you Hawaii, and I’m with you.”
Meanwhile, “Aquaman” star Jason Momoa — who was also born in Hawaii and has been an outspoken supporter of the anti-Thirty Meter Telescope protesters since 2015 — showed up in person Wednesday to present a ho’okupu, or “formal offering wrapped in ti leaf,” according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who spent some of his younger years in Honolulu, also made an unannounced visit to the site last week, posting about it on Instagram shortly afterward.
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The protesters, who describe themselves as protectors, welcome the support, according to media reports.
“I just want to say that I’m thankful to the protectors and the stewards of this land, and we are not going anywhere,” Momoa wrote.
“This is not about stopping the progress of science,” Johnson wrote. “I’ll always be an advocate for science advancement, but not at the expense of human beings who are hurting.”
CNN reported in 2015:
To native Hawaiians, the dormant volcano is the most sacred land in the entire Pacific. It is the point where the sky and earth meet. They believe it is the site of the genesis of their people, and it is the burial ground for their most revered ancestors. Considered a temple and a house of worship, native Hawaiians believed the gods created Mauna Kea for them to ascend to the heavens.
To scientists, the mountaintop is the best location in the world to observe the stars and study the origins of our universe.
Breitbart News reported:
The Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory website describes the vision and mission of the project:
TIO’s collaborative model which has engaged the world’s talent and intellect has revolutionized our understanding of our universe and therefore our understanding of ourselves and our place in it. The model has been adopted as an inclusive and scientific approach to address some of the world’s most complex scientific, philosophical, technological, and practical problems.
For tens of thousands of years humans have looked upward and tried to find meaning in what they see in the sky, trying to understand the context in which they and their world exists. As our level of knowledge grows, the next level of questions that arise require facilities with even greater capabilities to gather the observations needed to answer them. With each incremental step in capability, the resulting new questions require an even larger step in capability in order to be answered.
“Gov. David Ige on Tuesday called off the emergency order for Mauna Kea due to the approaching storms and extended the TMT construction deadline to start for two years — until Sept. 26, 2021,” the Star-Advertiser reported.
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