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from the they-will-just-have-to-hubble-along dept.
From Nature.com:
Hawaii's supreme court has ruled that the construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on top of the mountain Mauna Kea is invalid. The 2 December decision is a major blow to the international consortium backing the US$1.5-billion telescope, and a win for the Native Hawaiians who have protested against its construction on what they regard as a sacred summit.
And the top reddit comment on the article, which I found neatly summed up the situation.
I spent time in Hawaii and talked to locals that were born and raised there about this issue. Its polarizing.
People against it brought up the need for spirituality and respect for the Hawaiian culture lost over hundred of years of Western influence.
Argument for the telescope, however, claimed that building it would do nothing but respect their history. How did the ancient Hawaiians get to the island? They used the stars. It was "in their blood" to understand the heavens. Most of the those complaining are young disenfranchised people struggling in one of the crappiest economies in America.
Of course this could be a generalization based on second hand observation.
As for me, as big as these telescopes are, they look like ants on top of these massive volcanoes. Ruining the scenery is nonsense.
We covered the Groundbreaking for World's Largest Telescope nearly a month ago.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @04:29AM
These people making dismissive comments about the protesters blocking science, I bet most of them have never been to the big island of Hawaii. Maybe some have traveled to Oahu, Maui, or Kauai on vacation. But the big island is different - it doesn't have the big cities or the mansions or golf resorts but it has two mighty mountains, with active volcanoes, and hundreds of acres of fields covered with recent lava flow. It's a spiritual place.
You don't just barge in there and say, we're going to put this big honking scientific observatory (or oil rig, cell tower, amusement park, etc) on the top of one of these mountains. You go there and and set up camp and live for a number of years and work with the locals on what makes sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @04:49AM
You are really laying it on pretty thick. I was born on the big island and know plenty of people who live in mansions and there is definitely no shortage of golf resorts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @04:54AM
Are you kidding? I drove all around that island to visit the volcano and I saw shacks and lava fields and macademia fields everywhere I looked. OK, Kona has an interesting strip, but even that wasn't luxury stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @06:07AM
Wow you really don't know when to stop lying. You can see the volcano from nearly everywhere. There is no "drove all around the island". Be within a few miles of the shoreline and you can see the friggin thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @03:38PM
You made it up, didn't you. About growing up on Hawaii.
Didn't you, you little liar. You grew up in the suburbs of Indiana and that's where you still are, in the exact same house 25 years later.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 05 2015, @06:13AM
Looks like the other guy was right.