The media often presents Mauna Kea as a battleground for culture versus science. Yet that has never been the heart of the issue. The Hawaiian worldview does not separate those two things, as all of our practices that are regarded by Westerners as scientific—wayfinding and astronomy, aquaculture, ʻāina-based practices, etc.—are rooted in and woven through with our cultural beliefs. They grow from and nourish each other, one not living without the other.
A real issue in this fight is the way the mauna is being cared for. Though the struggle over Mauna Kea came to the general public’s attention in 2015 with the protests against the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope, the issue dates back five decades. This video focuses only on the mismanagement of the mauna, only one of the issues surrounding Mauna Kea, but protectors have been calling for better care of the mauna since the beginning.
Watch the video, and if you think Mauna Kea deserves better care, then please share it.
To do some of your own research, these are good places to begin: