Ha Ha Ha!

Is The Sierra Club Anti-Hawaiian?

Richard Ha writes:

This is an email that I sent to Mark Glick, President of the Hawaii Sierra Club.

Aloha Mark:

It saddens me to write this note to you. I am a member of the Sierra Club. But I very much disagree with the stance that the Sierra Club has taken with regard to Mauna Kea.

There are many, many dedicated volunteers in the Moku Loa group and I enjoy participating in conservation committee meetings. But, If the Sierra Club sues, I will regretfully have to terminate my membership.
 
I am native Hawaiian and the overwhelming number of native Hawaiians are in favor of the Comprehensive Management Plan and the development of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. We feel that it is appropriate that the best telescope in the world be built on the most sacred mountain in the world, in honor of our proud history of astronomy and navigation. I feel that the Sierra Club has no regard for what the vast majority of  the Hawaiian people feel.
 
When the Thirty Meter Telescope corporation first announced that they were interested in coming to Hawaii, I volunteered to be on the TMT committee of the Hawaii Economic Development Board. I was disappointed and angry about how astronomy had been done on the mountain.  And I was determined that if it was to be done, I wanted a hand in making sure that it be done right. 
 
Previous to this I had been just a banana farmer. But when one talks about Mauna Kea, one needs to talk about the culture. And then, one gravitates to Keaukaha, the oldest Hawaiian Homes community of the Big Island. There I discovered that although there were hundreds of millions of dollars of telescopes on the mountain, there were no visible benefit to the Hawaiian community. This community has a much lower average income than Hilo proper.

One day, I asked Kumu Lehua Veincent, the principal of Keaukaha Elementary School: Where do the kids go on excursion? He said, We do not have enough money to rent buses, so we organize walking excursions around the neighborhood. How could this be? I thought that all kids went on excursion.

A friend of mine and I decided that we could not just talk, we needed to do something and so we started the adopt-a-class project. We figured that $300 would be enough to rent a bus and $300 would pay for entry fees to Imiloa the Astronomy and Hawaiian culture museum. So, we went around and asked if individuals or groups would be interested in adopting a class so they could go on excursion. In four months all the classes were adopted for both semesters.

Soon after, the Moore Foundation, using the adopt-a-class project as a template, funded all the students on the Big Island for an excursion to Imiloa. 

You may know that Hawaiians occupy the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. And that the best predictor of family income is level of education. The TMT committed to fund $1 million annually to a keiki education fund as soon as permits are issued. We have an opportunity of elevating our Hawaiian childrens' education level and to move them up in our society.

The Sierra Club fighting against this project, when we and so many others fought so hard to make the CMP pono, is so disappointing as to be beyond words. Your stance is anti-Hawaiian.

What is your justification for doing this? What does the national chapter think?  How can you even contemplate it?

 
Aloha,
Richard Ha

Mauna Kea Management Board Unanimously Approves TMT

Richard Ha writes:

On Wednesday, the Mauna Kea Management Board (MKMB) met to discuss whether or not to approve the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project on Mauna Kea. I was first to testify. This is what I said:

I recall meeting Henry Yang [TMT Board Chairman and Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara] for the first time in UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng’s office, when he was in town to find out if siting the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawai‘i was even possible. At that time, it was a foregone conclusion that the telescope project was going to Chile.

I told him the most important thing to do in order to turn things around was to go talk story with the people. His face lit up, and he told me that was exactly what he wanted to do, because it was about talking to people and building relationships and trust.

In a short time, I could tell that this was a person you could do business with on a handshake. I knew that with Henry, we would not have to watch our backs. I even called my brother Kenneth to tell him that I thought things had changed.  

Henry came to Hilo about 15 times, along with Jean Lou Chameau, president of Cal Tech. He did not come here seeking publicity; hardly anyone ever knew they were here. He visited with the regular folk.

He even visited Keaukaha Elementary School four times. The last time was when they had a free hour on Kupuna Day. We went over, sat on a bench and listened to kupuna giving advice to sixth graders.

After the program was pau, people asked them, “Where you guys going? Come, come; go eat.” People had made plates of laulau, poi, lomi salmon and haupia. Henry and Jean Lou dug in to eat and talked story with the folk. I could see that in the people’s eyes, they had become just Henry and Jean Lou.

In their trips talking to the regular folks, Henry and Jean Lou discovered that the lowest common denominator, which people on all sides of the issue could agree upon, was keiki education. As Kumu Lehua (principal of Keaukaha Elementary) says, “Not for only the best; what about the rest?”

The TMT folks committed to an annual million dollar education fund for the keiki. Funding would start as soon as all permits were obtained, and it would last through the construction and the life of the project—more than $50 million in all. This proved to us all that they heard the people.

As we went around visiting people, Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, president of the Keaukaha Community Association, told me that it’s about “the process.” And since the process would result in the best possible result, we need to aloha everyone who participates in the process, no matter which side of the issue they are on. Therefore, we must mahalo Kealoha, Nelson, Debbie, Paul, Ku, Hanalei, the Kanaka Council, Jim, Cory, Moani and many others. We would not be here today had it not been for their passionate advocacy.

The whole state has noticed that we on the Big Island are doing this differently. Our approach is based on mutual respect, collaboration and trust. The TMT folks, led by Henry Yang, did it the right way. It would not have worked any other way.

I have much aloha for Henry. My Pop used to tell me when I was a small kid – “Get thousand reasons why no can; I only looking for the one reason why can.”

The MKMB voted unanimously to approve construction of the TMT on Mauna Kea. I am convinced that the countless volunteers did the best they could to make sure that this project is pono.

It Takes A Community

Richard Ha writes:

It's been a busy few days.

Last Wednesday evening, Don Thomas, a geologist from UH Hilo, accompanied me to a meeting of the Keaukaha Community Association where he described two drilling projects. The first was a 3,000 ft. or so pilot hole sunk by the Hilo breakwater. It was a test to see if the concept of drilling to acquire a profile of the land was feasible. The second was a much deeper hole on the National Guard side of the Hilo airport. This was a part of a National Science Foundation-funded study. It was meant to gather information on the formation of the Big Island by studying the layers of lava as the hole was drilled deeper and deeper.

The background as I understand it: In eartlier days, only the Kohala Mountain range, Hualalai and Mauna Kea protruded above the ocean. Then Mauna Loa erupted and the Hilo side of Mauna Kea was covered by Mauna Loa's lava.

Core samples showed that there was Mauna Loa lava atop soil from Mauna Kea, much like the kind of material you see on the Hilo/Hamakua coast. Then, as the drill went deeper, they found fresh water at 160 lbs. of pressure in the Mauna Kea lava, way below the surface of the ocean. This is what's called an artesian well, and is when you get water shooting out under pressure from the surface of the land. That means that this water is under pressure from water that is pushing against it.

As I understand it, drill deep enough and water will just shoot out of the ground. I'll ask Don what all this means and report back here.

I saw Luana Kawelu at the Keaukaha Community Association meeting Wednesday night. Kumu Lehua calls her one of the "Gang of Three" (with Patrick Kahawaiola‘a) -- the folks who together help to make Keaukaha Elementary School the excellent school that it is. She is also the driving force behind the Merrie Monarch Festival. She has never let marketing and dreams of bigger and better things cloud her judgment. She just focuses on the pono thing. I cannot imagine how the Merrie Monarch Festival could be done better. "Pono" is way good enough.

Thursday, I flew to Maui to visit supermarkets as part of my marketing involvement with the new organic farm at Kapalua called WeFarm@Kapalua. This organic farm is on former Maui Pineapple Company lands and consists of approximately 158 acres. David Cole, the former CEO of Maui Land and Pine, started the organic farm awhile ago. When MLP got out of pineapple, the Ulupono Initiative submitted a bid to take over the former organic farm. From the Ulupono Initiative website:

Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development LLC, a subsidiary of the Ulupono Initiative,
announced today that it would be assuming operations of Kapalua Farms, an organic farming and agriculture research facility located near the entry of the Kapalua Resort in West Maui.  Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., owners of the 158-acre agricultural parcel, successfully reached an agreement with Ulupono earlier this month, with the transition of the property already underway.
 
“We are pleased to partner with Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development as they assume operations of Kapalua Farms,” said Warren H. Haruki, chairman and interim CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.  “Our desire was to find an operational partner that would be able to continue organic farming operations and to maintain Kapalua Farms as a community resource, employer, and provider.  Ulupono is an exemplary organization committed to preserving our agricultural land, and we look forward to working together.”

I am especially pleased to be working with the Ulupono Initiative and WeFarm@Kapalua because I watched Jeff Alvord put this initiative together over the last several years. Jeff would call when he was in town and we would talk about the larger picture of a sustainable Hawai‘i. I knew from early on that the Omidyar Group had the best interest of Hawai‘i at heart. I'm very happy to be closely involved with this new organic farming initiative.

Later, when I made my way to the Maui airport, I ran into Stevie Whalen, the President of the Hawai‘i Ag Research Center, which is the modern-day iteration of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association's research arm.

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association (HSPA), dedicated to improving the sugar industry in Hawaii, has become an internationally recognized research center. Its name change in 1996 to Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) reflects its expanding scope to encompass research in forestry, coffee, forage, vegetable crops, tropical fruits, and many other diversified crops in addition to sugarcane. HARC is a private, non-profit 501c5 organization.

HARC specializes in horticultural crop research including agronomy and plant nutrition, plant physiology, breeding, genetic engineering and tissue culture, and control of diseases and pests through integrated pest management. HARC also performs pesticide registration work; training in areas such as pesticide application and environmental compliance; ground water monitoring; and technical literature searches.

Stevie was on Maui to help provide research info about new biocrop possibilities that could possibly be the base feedstock that would provide the U.S. Navy the kind of second and third generation fuel that it could use to fly its jet planes and run its ships. Liquid transportation fuel is very important for us living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It will take a huge research effort to develop high-yielding bio feedstock. It will not just happen miraculously, out of the blue. I have the utmost confidence in Stevie and her HARC crew, as well as Andy Hashimoto and the CTAHR crew.

Stevie told me that it's becoming evident that biofuel production will need to use the added value of co-products to make it an economically viable form of energy. There is no doubt that we want to develop a biofuel that will eventually be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. I am very aware that much more work needs to be done.

Then, on the plane back to Hilo, I ended up sitting next to Arnold Hara, extension entomologist for UH Manoa. He was on Maui as part of a project to intensively inspect imported produce coming from the mainland and foreign countries. He was very concerned about the amount of invasive species insects that are being found on imported organic produce. He called imported organic produce "dirty." He meant that there are lots of hitchhikers on organic produce. It is very worrisome.

I'll call him tomorrow and ask what varieties of organic produce we should grow to replace imported organic produce. I'm very happy to be associated with WeFarm@Kapalua, where we can help to protect Hawai‘i from invasive species.

Busy Day of Many Issues

Richard Ha writes:

It was a busy day for me. At 8 a.m., I met researchers from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at our Hamakua Springs County Farms at Pepe‘ekeo. They were visiting to understand how they might help us develop fish food by recycling our farm waste. We talked for a while. I showed them our tilapia, and they were happy they visited so they could understand the scope of our project.

By 9:30 a.m., I was at ‘Imiloa to observe the Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting, which was to discuss and make decisions about the 4 sub plans they were requesting be added to the Comprehensive Management Plan.

I noticed that there was more people attending this hearing than the last. And there were less folks in the audience who were against the CMP than last time. My immediate assessment was that some of those folks must have been satisfied with the extra requirement  the Land Board required last time.

I signed up to give a short statement. This was the speech I had planned to give.
 

From the time we started down this path of developing a Comprehensive Management Plan for Maunakea, the world has changed. We are suddenly realizing that although the world is not running out of oil, it is running out of cheap oil we can afford to burn. The International Energy Association, the official world oil barrel counter, tells us that the natural decline rate of world oil fields is 4 million barrels of oil per day each year. Since Saudi Arabia produces only little more than 8 million barrels per day, we need to find a new Saudi Arabia every two years. And it is estimated that within 30 years, the oil exporting countries will no longer be exporting oil. This is very scary!
 
Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, president of the Keaukaha Community Association, once told me: “It is the process that is most important.” If that is so, I thought, then everyone who contributes to the process helps to make a better end product. That means we have to aloha everyone who contributes to the process, no matter what side of the issue.
 
Especially now, in this changing world, we need to strengthen our communities; we must make more friends and stay closer to the ones we have. We can agree to disagree. But when this is all over, let’s all respect each others' contribution.

 
By 10:15 I'd run out of time to testify, and I caught a plane to O‘ahu. Later in the afternoon, I got a text message that the four sub plans had been approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

I thought of how hard Kealoha Pisciotta, Nelson Ho, Debbie Ward, Clarence Ching, Paul Neves, the Kanaka Council, Hank Fergerstrom, Palikapu Dedman, Jimmie Medeiros and many others have fought to get their voices heard. I know that the reason we have this good Comprehensive Management Plan is because we all had to stretch and work even harder on the CMP than if they had said nothing.

So we must aloha them. For they helped immeasurably to make this Comprehensive Management Plan a better document.

And, then a couple of hours later I was testifying before the Senate on Senate Concurrent resolution 99— REQUESTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WORKING GROUP TO ANALYZE THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY AS THE PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCE TO MEET THE BASELOAD DEMAND FOR ELECTRICITY ON THE BIG ISLAND.

More about that here on Monday.

Correcting Misstatements about Maunakea and Astronomy

Richard Ha writes:

On Thursday, there will be a Board of Land and Natural Resources hearing at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Leading up to this hearing, there have been many claims and counterclaims about different aspects of the care of Maunakea. Here is a statement that corrects some recent misstatements:

No Danger to Maunakea Aquifer
 
Comprehensive research confirms that the observatories on Maunakea pose no danger to the aquifer and drinking water on the Big Island.
 
The statement suggesting otherwise is misleading because it incorrectly assumes that the summit is a significant contributor to the water supply.
 
Because the conservation district on Maunakea encompasses both the high elevations (8,000 to 14,000 feet) and lower elevations (5,000 to 2,000 feet) it is true that the conservation lands encompass critical watershed and forestry lands.  However, the critical watershed and forestry lands are those lands in the lower elevation band.  Above 8,000 feet there is little rainfall (less than 30 inches/year), little forest, and little groundwater recharge.  The bulk of groundwater is generated by the higher rainfall (60 to 200 inches/year) in the lower elevation band of conservation land.
 
Maps that depict the limits of groundwater aquifers show all the aquifers extending to the summit of Maunakea. This gives the false impression that the summit of Maunakea is the headwaters for these aquifers when in fact the land above 8,000 feet contributes little to the aquifer compared to the land at lower elevations.  Furthermore, none of the developments above 8,000 feet eliminate or inhibit groundwater recharge in anyway.
 
Another concern based on misinformation is the potential for pollution of the aquifer. Studies carried out to evaluate potential pollutants related to septic tanks in the summit region have demonstrated that wastewater discharged via septic tanks in the summit region have not and will not impact water quality at drinking water wells down gradient.  In addition, a proposed new observatory, the Thirty Meter Telescope, is being designed as a zero waste discharge facility, with all waste securely transported off the summit. Ensuring it will not impact the quality of the island’s drinking water.
 
UH Does Not Have Resources to Build Telescopes and Needs Scientific Partnerships
 
The underlying implication of the sublease statements is that the State is “giving away” a valuable public trust resource without getting anything in return. To appreciate why this is not the case, one first needs to understand the basic philosophy behind the development; the essential role played by the IfA; and the educational, scientific and economic benefits that accrue to the State of Hawaii from astronomy.
 
It is logical to think that UH should build powerful observatories on its own, as the universities in California, Texas, Arizona, and on the East Coast have done.  Unfortunately, UH is a medium-sized state university with a very limited budget, and Hawaii is a small state with limited resources.  Thus, a different concept was developed— the concept of scientific partnerships.
 
Within this concept the national and international partners contribute the capital funding for the facility, carry most or all of the operational costs, and contribute to the infrastructure development.  The University, through the IfA, provides the leadership and know-how to operate an observatory at extreme altitude, the management of the physical and operational infrastructure (roads, power, fiber-optics communications, food, and lodging) and ongoing protection from adverse intrusions such as light pollution and radio frequency interference.  The University also provides the land for the observatory site from its lease from the State, along with assistance in planning and permitting.  The University and its partners collaborate in the scientific use of the telescopes, including development of technologically advanced instrumentation.  Most importantly, they share the scientific observing time on the facilities with no cost to the University.
 
In this way, the University and the State are saved the enormous capital costs of designing and building world-class telescopes, but are still able to provide researchers with access to these unique facilities and give them the opportunity to develop one of the best astronomical research and education programs in the world.
 
The benefits, both economic and otherwise, are substantial as indicated below.
 
      1.   Astronomy facilities on Maunakea and Haleakala represent a capital investment of close to $1 billion.  The economic benefit of astronomy to the State amounts to $140 million per year.  New projects for Haleakala and Maunakea have the potential to double these numbers.
 
      2.   The observatories and other astronomy-related activities on Maunakea and Haleakala provide 600 quality jobs in a clean high-tech industry on the neighbor islands.  It is important to note that only a small fraction of these jobs are for astronomers.  Most of them are for technical, administrative, and logistic services.  Beyond the simple numbers, there is the fact that astronomy as a high-tech science diversifies the Hawaii economy and gives local young people with scientific and technical talents a wealth of opportunities to realize their potential without having to leave Hawaii to pursue employment elsewhere.  Unlike many high-tech industries, astronomy is fundamentally rooted in Hawaii.  Observatories cannot be relocated to the mainland or overseas.
 
      3.   Astronomy is one of UH's most successful programs and the IfA has developed into one of the world's preeminent centers for astronomical research.  Its graduate program is among the best in the world and about 1,000 undergraduate students per year participate in astronomy courses in Manoa.  UH Hilo has also developed a very successful astronomy undergraduate program.
 
      4.   The telescopes on Maunakea comprise the world's most important observatory complex. It is likely that Hawaii will retain this enviable distinction for the foreseeable future.  Hawaii and its State University are recognized around the world for this outstanding achievement—a source of tremendous prestige for the State.  Approximately 1,500 scientists come to work at the observatories each year, which also helps support Hawaii’s key tourism and vacation industry. Hundreds of others come to Hawaii each year to participate in astronomy-related conferences.  Several small companies make a business of providing quality tours to Maunakea.  The observatories' base facilities in Hilo, Waimea, and on Maui are major additions to those communities and contribute in many ways.
 
      5.   Over the years, the observatories have made significant monetary contributions to the infrastructure, much of which benefits the general community.  This includes $2 million for road improvements on Maunakea and another $2 million to assist GTE Hawaiian Tel to install a fiber optics cable across the Saddle from Waimea to Hilo.  This cable provides state-of-the-art service for both the Big Island telephone system and the observatories.
 
      6.   The observatories operate the Visitor Information Station at Hale Pohaku, which provides free public star gazing seven nights a week and welcomes about 100,000 visitors each year.
 
      7.   The observatories pay the entire cost of maintenance and snow removal for the road and they pay for emergency services.  The public has year-round use of these roads.  The costs for this service and the Visitor Station amount to $700,000 a year.
 
Although the economic benefits are substantial, it is important to keep in mind that astronomy research does not generate any revenue for the observatories.  Astronomy is basic science and concentrates on the scientific exploration of the Universe.  Astronomy is probably the first science, is interwoven with Hawaii’s traditional culture, and has changed our understanding of the world and our thinking as humans like no other science.  The telescopes on Maunakea and Haleakala have contributed fundamentally to the advancement of human knowledge.  They have not been built and have never been used to generate any kind of income for the partner institutes or UH.  None of the observatories earn revenue by charging fees for observing time.  In fact most of them are prohibited from doing so either by their terms of incorporation or by their funding.  The telescopes are not private commercial instruments.  They are world-class research facilities, and the best window our planet provides on the strange and wonderful universe we live in.
 
Payment for “Viewing Nights”
 
Currently the operating costs for the W. M. Keck Observatory are borne by the University of California (83 percent) and NASA (17 percent). Caltech was responsible for the original costs of building the telescopes and does not pay for operations cost because it secured large grants from the Keck Foundation and NASA to fund the construction of the observatory.
 
This arrangement comes to an end in 2018. At that point Caltech will need to share in funding to operate the facility (42 percent to retain its current share). For this reason, Caltech sought new partners to raise funds for Keck operations beginning in 2018.  The funds from this agreement will be used solely to operate the W.M. Keck Observatory. These funds will pay salaries for staff on the island of Hawai'i to maintain and operate the telescopes on the summit and the base facility in Waimea.
 
The only funds received for “observation viewing nights” are those necessary to reimburse the cost of providing agreed services, such as the operation of W.M. Keck Observatory, pay salaries for staff on the island of Hawai'i to maintain and operate the telescopes on the summit and the base facility in Waimea.  In short, the money is used to pay the high fixed operational costs of the observatories.  As such, there are no revenues or profits in the sense of funding that could be used for other purposes.

Kalepa Baybayan - Navigator-In-Residence at ‘Imiloa

Kalepa Baybayan is known as a “Master Navigator,” but when I talked to him the other day, it was clear the title makes him uncomfortable. He returned to it twice.

“I would disclaim being a master of anything,” he said. “I’m pretty much a student of the art. Though I have greater responsibilities, I still learn every time I go out.”

He was talking about going out on the Hokule‘a, which he’s sailed on since 1975, when he was 19. If there is anything more interesting than the story of the Hokule‘a, I don’t know what it is.

From Wikipedia:

Hōkūleʻa is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, she is best known for her 1976 Hawaiʻi to Tahiti voyage performed with Polynesian navigation techniques, without modern navigational instruments. The primary goal of the voyage was to further support the anthropological theory of the Asiatic origin of native Oceanic people, of Polynesians and Hawaiians in particular, as the result of purposeful trips through the Pacific, as opposed to passive drifting on currents, or sailing from the Americas. (Scientific results of 2008, from DNA analysis, illuminate this theory of Polynesian settlement.) A secondary goal of the project was to have the canoe and voyage "serve as vehicles for the cultural revitalization of Hawaiians and other Polynesians."

Since the 1976 voyage to Tahiti and back, Hōkūle‘a has completed nine more voyages to destinations in Micronesia, Polynesia, Japan, Canada, and the United States, all using ancient wayfinding techniques of celestial navigation.

The next Hokule‘a voyage, now in the planning stages, is going to be a doozy: They’re planning to take the voyaging canoe around the world. The Hokule‘a is going to circumnavigate the globe, and it will probably be a two- to three-year voyage, he said.

“As ambitious as that sounds, explorers have been sailing around the world for a couple hundred years now,” he said, “so it’s not something so far out there it’s not achievable.”

“In my very early years, looking at that traditionally shaped sail cutting across the night sky,” he said, “that’s a pretty compelling vision for a young man to see. I look up there and realize that silhouette I’m seeing is probably the same one my ancestors saw.

“The excitement, amazement, the loneliness and happiness of finding land – it’s timeless. That’s universal. So you get really close to experiencing the world and the environment in the same sense your ancestors did.”

Richard wanted to know if Kalepa navigates the canoe by the ocean, looking up at the stars, or whether he seems himself as traveling in space – in the stars?

Kalepa thought about that before answering. He said he just sees the canoe pointing in a certain direction, and things moving by it. “I don’t really experience it as the canoe being moved by nature,” he said. “Rather I see nature moving by us.”

When not at sea, Kalepa is Navigator-in-Residence at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo. Isn't that a great title? “They had an Astronomer-In-Residence and they wanted a Navigator-In-Residence too,” he explained.

‘Imiloa, of course, is where we “celebrate Hawaiian culture and Maunakea astronomy, sharing with the world an inspiring example of science and culture united [my italics] to advance knowledge, understanding and opportunity.”

Kalepa and the interim executive director, Ka‘iu Kimura, are both graduates of the Hawaiian language college, and Kalepa said there’s an indigenous model of leadership emerging at ‘Imiloa.

“One of the great things about ‘Imiloa is that it’s exposing us to the national and international communities,” he said.

About a year and a half ago, he and ‘Imiloa Planetarium Director Shawn Laatsch were invited to speak at Athens and Hamburg planetariums. “There is a curiosity about indigenous astronomy,” he said, “and the story of voyaging is a really compelling story. And the context is to have Shawn speak to the [astronomical] exploration being done on Mauna Kea.”

He said while he’s really happy with where Hawai‘i’s voyaging knowledge is at, there’s still a lot of work to do. “We experimented with what we were doing," he said. 'We learned and we gathered the info. Now it’s a matter of, How do we teach it in an effective way? Who are the teachers?

“It’s one thing to have a conversation with canoe people who travel together all the time, but trying to talk to a new generation, that’s a different kind of process.”

This seems to be another place ‘Imiloa comes in.

“We need to make a connection to the STEM program,” he said, “to science; that encourages young learners to follow the tradition of navigation; not to be navigators, but to follow the tradition of exploring.”

“My largest responsibility,” he said, about his role at ‘Imiloa, “is that the internal compass of the organization be aligned to the horizon we want to move toward.”

- Leslie Lang

Where We Live: A Pacific View's Slideshow of the Big Island

Richard ran across this slide show, by Tom of the blog A Pacific View, on Puna Web. The photos were so spectacular, Richard told me, he had to stop and send the link to June before he was even done viewing them.

"It's easy to forget what a special place the Big Island is," he told me. "Even Mauna Kea!" But you only have to look at these photos to appreciate where we live all over again.

Click to see the slide show:

- posted by Leslie Lang

Mahalo to Appellants

Richard Ha writes:

Regarding the Memorandum of Decision on UH Motion to Dismiss Appeal, filed 12-29-09, Mauna Kea Anaina Hou’s request for a contested case of the then proposed Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) was denied. Judge Hara ruled:

“It may be that a future implementation of the CMP might trigger a requirement for a contested case, but the action of the BLNR in accepting and approving the CMP in and of itself does not do so."

We must aloha the appellants' efforts on behalf of Mauna Kea. They were on the forefront of protecting Mauna Kea since the early days. If not for them, we may not have this heightened sense of awareness that we all now have.

And because they pointed out that on previous telescope projects there were no benefits coming back to the Big Island, we were able to negotiate a TMT Big Island community benefit package of $3.5 million annually for the 65-year life of the project ($227,500,000 plus).

One million of that will go toward keiki education on the Big Island each year, starting when the permits are obtained. In addition, 7.5 percent of the viewing time will go to the University of Hawai‘i. Dr. McClain intended that the benefits were to be split equitably, so it is fair to say that part of the viewing time benefits will come to the Big Island. The viewing time is estimated to be worth a million dollars for each percentage point, more or less, in inflation-adjusted dollars and is quite a difference from previous arrangements.

A big mahalo to the appellants, and a Happy New Year to all.

Surfing at Santa Cruz

Richard Ha writes:

There was an interesting article recently in the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Hawaiian royals honor Santa Cruz surfing history

Posted: 11/25/2009 01:30:17 AM PST

SANTA CRUZ -- Take that, Huntington Beach.

The royal family of Hawaii boosted Santa Cruz's claim as the real Surf City, giving the city a bronze plaque honoring the three island princes who introduced surfing to the mainland when they first paddled out at the San Lorenzo River mouth in 1885. The City Council officially accepted the plaque Tuesday.

…According to Dunn's historical report, "Riders Like the Sea Spray: The Three Surfing Princes in Santa Cruz," Hawaiian princes Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole, David Kawananakoa and Edward Keliiahonui visited family friends in Santa Cruz during their summer break from St. Matthew's Hall, a military school for boys that they attended in San Mateo, in 1885.

The three princes ordered 15-foot, 100 pound surfboards carved from local redwood and paddled out at the river mouth, where a large wave historically broke before the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor was built in the 1960s…. (Read more here)

In the mid-1960s, when I was in Army boot camp at Fort Ord, we went down to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz.  We did some body surfing on the south side of the beach, at the Boardwalk. I wonder if that was where the princes surfed?

This was the first time that I actually got in the water on the mainland. It was fun but shockingly cold compared to what I was accustomed. It was the coldest water I ever experienced. No wonder people were wearing wet suits.

Michael Bolte tells me, “The Boardwalk is bordered on the south side by the San Lorenzo river. There is a sandbar that forms off the river mouth that often has a nice break in the winter. I think this is where the princes surfed.”

Supporting the Mauna Kea CMP

Richard Ha writes:

A diverse group – all of us supporting the Comprehensive Management Plan to malama Mauna Kea – met in front of the new court house yesterday to show our support for the process.

Judge Hara ruled that a Comprehensive Management Plan had to be done before any new construction could happen on the mountain. Many, many volunteers worked very hard and did their very best to ensure that the CMP would comply with the spirit of the ruling – which is to malama Mauna Kea.

No matter what side of the issue we’re all on, we all want the best for Mauna Kea.

Everyone had a fair chance to provide input to the process. We aloha everyone who participated. It took everybody’s input to make this the best plan it can be.

We came together yesterday to celebrate the process.