So often, tropes about science versus religion assume Western science and use ‘religion’ as shorthand for Christianity. But that framing is not always accurate. Science is part of culture, and how science is done depends on the culture in which it is practised. Consider how many medical studies were based on male mice and male patients, and so missed important biomedical insights.
When the eighteenth-century British explorer James Cook arrived in Hawaii, he encountered a thriving civilization with a system of rules and regulations based on sustainability. Ancient Hawaiians realized that to maintain a large, healthy population, areas rich in resources such as rainfall and biodiversity must remain undisturbed. The wilderness of the mountains was the realm of gods (wao akua) forbidden to humans, whereas the lowlands where intensive agriculture and aquaculture took place were the realm of people (wao kanaka). Such evidence-based Indigenous practices are still applied today in fisheries conservation.
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As a faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I hold my university accountable for much of the ill will the community feels. A lack of transparency and egregious mismanagement of Mauna Kea has persisted since the earliest arrangements between astronomers and the university. In late July, a University of Hawaii promotional video admitted that a 1998 state audit highlighting these deficiencies was a “wake-up call” that brought an era of more-responsive management, but I consider that neither the state of Hawaii nor the university has met their obligations.
I think we need to halt construction and restart a conversation between the state, the universities and Native Hawaiians about potential alternative futures for Mauna Kea — which include restoring the ecological damage caused by the 13 other telescopes on the mountain and dismantling the 5 telescopes slated for decommissioning. Such steps would provide credibility that the University of Hawaii recognizes its responsibility to take care of Mauna Kea. Moving the TMT to an alternative site in the Canary Islands should also be seriously discussed in consideration of the community.
