Category: Environment,

Bird Population In North America Has Plummeted In Past 50 Years

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Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds.

…Their results show that more than 90% of the loss can be attributed to just a dozen bird families, including sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches.

Common birds with decreasing populations include meadowlarks, dark-eyed juncos, horned larks and red-winged blackbirds, says Rosenberg. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease in their numbers, and more than a third of the shorebird population has been lost.

…”Just because a species hasn’t gone extinct or isn’t even necessarily close to extinction, it might still be in trouble,” she says. “We need to be thinking about conservation efforts for that.”

The researchers cite a variety of potential causes for the loss of birds, including habitat degradation, urbanization and the use of toxic pesticides, notes Zipkin.

Bird Population In North America Has Plummeted In Past 50 Years : NPR

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Hurricane season ties record for most storms at once

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The six named storms whirling at once this week in the Atlantic and Pacific …was believed to tie a modern record, set in September 1992, according to National Hurricane Center forecaster Eric Blake.

Hurricane season: Humberto, Jerry, Kiko set record for most storms

Psssst…. Hot tip. Set is different than tie. Get your story straight.

An Brazilian Indigenous Leader Shares His Experience With And Ideas to Solve Man-Made Climate Change

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Our rivers cannot exist without the forest, our animals cannot live without the forest, and we ourselves depend on these plants and animals for our consumption, for our existence.

Deforesting was one of the greatest catastrophes that happened in our territory. People felled our forests, and that made our rivers very dry. There were many species of fish that disappeared, as the forest has been cut down, many kinds of animals also disappeared, or disappeared from that region at least. We have experienced a lot more heatwaves now, almost unbearable heatwaves. There would be rains during the summer time as if it were winter time, and also dryness during the rainy season. There’s been growing lightning storms and hurricane storms that would come and uproot many trees. We had great floods that caused many animals to die, and even people. Because of climatic changes, there are many species of trees whose fruits are borne before the correct time of the year. All the people who live in the forest realize that over the last 30 years, the changes have been very significant.

…Our environment, our natural fruits, animals and plants are the security of our lives. And if we don’t take care of all these species, of this richness of nature, we are heading towards a great catastrophe that may affect us in a very deep way. 

…I want to show young people in particular how they can tend the forest in order to guarantee their futures, to create a sustainable situation consciously, without harming the environment in such a violent way as man does.

…Our governments are creating projects that actually harm people’s lives, perhaps slowly, but in a very pervasive way. People are just trying to get rich, and they are killing one another, sometimes without even knowing it. …They also need to respect everyone’s lives, the lives of all human beings, who depend on the land to survive. It is our very governments who are killing the earth.

An Brazilian Indigenous Leader Shares His Climate Solutions | Time

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Sawdust Might Be One Answer to the World’s Plastic Problem – Bloomberg

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Origin Materials is getting ready to pay sawmills in the area $20 a ton for the scraps left over in the process of turning logs into lumber, which it will use to make recyclable plastic bottles that remove carbon-dioxide from the sky because they’re made from sustainably sourced wood waste.

…Other so-called bio-based plastics are being developed from sugar, corn, algae, seaweed, sewage and even dead beetles.

…However ingenious the techniques to make plant-based bottles may get, though, they’re still plastic. Not all varieties are recyclable or biodegradable. And ultimately unless they are recycled — and worldwide only one out of every five bottles is — plastic bottles inevitably end up in landfills where they may spew pollutants into the air, or worse, find their way into the oceans where most could take hundreds of years to degrade, killing birds, fish and whales in the process. When incinerating, bio-based plastics may be little better than oil-based ones because the carbon stored in them is released.

…Phasing out petroleum-based plastics will be an uphill battle. Use of the material has become so ingrained for societies around the world that about half of all new oil demand through 2040 will come from petrochemicals, an industry that relies on plastics for most of its business, according to BloombergNEF. The $500 billion global plastics market is responsible for 5% of greenhouse gas emissions.

…Nestle alone produces 1.7 million tons of plastic packaging a year. …Beverage makers like Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsi use a lot more than that. Coca-Cola rolled out its so-called plantbottle in 2009, but it’s still 70% petroleum based.

Sawdust Might Be One Answer to the World’s Plastic Problem – Bloomberg

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Outer Banks wild horses will ride out Hurricane Dorian as usual, with ‘butts to the wind’

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The hurricane with no name threshed across the Atlantic coast in mid-September 1713, ripping at tobacco crops and sending panicked colonists inland, where the storm’s destructive power found them. 

…By then, the Spanish mustangs already had made a home on North Carolina’s thin, boomerang-shaped Outer Banks for two centuries, passing down cyclone-survival skills to foals for generations.

…Around 200 horses will stay and ride it out, as they have since the 16th century — seeking refuge under towering live oak trees.

It’s not their first rodeo, said Meg Puckett, the nonprofit’s herd manager. The wild horses will instinctually seek cover in wooded high grounds, standing in tight circles with their butts out like a reverse phalanx.

“After all that time, the herd just knows,” Puckett told The Washington Post by phone on Thursday, as wind hummed in the background, announcing Dorian’s inevitable approach up the coast. “That information is passed down from generation to generation.”

…They are thought to be descendants of horses that swam ashore after the shipwrecks.

Others believe they were simply abandoned by the Spaniards after various violent clashes with Native Americans and English settlers.

The horses are remarkably resilient in the harsh conditions, where fresh water and vegetation often give way to sand and salt. And they don’t scare like domestic horses. Facing a hurricane or a threat, they endure. “It says a lot about their resourcefulness and hardiness,” Puckett said. “They have an incredible will to survive.”

…In 2010, the Spanish mustang became the state horse of North Carolina, even as their future remains far from certain. Conservationists have focused their efforts on genetic diversity to keep mares and foals healthy, Puckett said.

…She is not concerned over Dorian’s approach. Many hurricanes have come and gone for 500 years, and the horses remain.

If they ever disappear, it’s unlikely that a hurricane will be the culprit.

Outer Banks wild horses will ride out Hurricane Dorian as usual – The Washington Post

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Hurricane Dorian: Triggers a Familiar Routine in Nags Head, NC

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In the Outer Banks, hurricane preparations are a ritual, a way of life. The storms bring the threat of destruction and here, especially, of permanent change — of washed-away roads and inlets carved into places that used to be land.

…He directed a staff of workers who’d arrived around 9 a.m. at the Outer Banks Fishing Pier. They’d come to help board up Fish Heads, a popular restaurant and bar built into the beginning of the pier.

…They’ve boarded up Fish Heads so often that for some it’d become routine. The letters spray-painted on the wood offered guidance of where to place them: “E” for on the east side of the restaurant, facing the ocean, and “S” for the south.

If all went well, they’d be back on Saturday to take the boards off and re-open. But that was three days away, and there was no way to know what Dorian might bring.

…In Nags Head, a big Food Lion a few blocks from the beach, was absent the kind of rush that storm preparation might bring elsewhere, farther inland. There were no crowds, but plenty of milk, bread and water. Outside, customers traded jokes about stocking up on beer.

…In 2003, Hurricane Isabel …[destroyed huge parts] two revered fishing piers in Nags Head.

..The pier that Oliver’s father owns lost about 400 feet, Oliver said.

…“They ended up building back Jennette’s as a concrete pier,” Oliver said. …“Since we just got beach nourishment, …and then this last fall, we replaced nine pilings on the pier. So we’re feeling a little bit better …structure-wise.”

…While the workers sawed wood and attached boards to the side of the building, others stood by and watched and cracked open bottles of Corona. 

…“We spent a lot of time boarding up. Everybody gets their houses ready, everybody’s prepared, and then at the end if you want to sit down and have a cocktail, it definitely happens for sure.”

…Nags Heard town officials on Wednesday handed out fliers …titled “If You Choose to Stay During Hurricane Dorian.” 

…“At the least, we are expecting significant soundside storm surge, rainfall, high surf and the damage associated with these impacts.”

The town wrote that at the height of the storm, public safety personnel “may not be able to respond in the event of an emergency.” It warned people who stayed to be prepared to lose power and water, and advised gathering enough supplies to last for at least three days.

Hurricane Dorian: Storm threat makes Nags Head a ghost town | Raleigh News & Observer

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Residents of North Carolina’s Outer Banks brace for Dorian

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Overnight winds were expected to cause trees and branches to fall on power lines, and debris could block repair crews from accessing damaged lines, said Mike Burnette senior vice president of Electric Cooperatives, a utility provider in North Carolina. Customers should prepare for prolonged power outages, he said.

“We have a long night ahead of us. Everyone needs to stay in a safe place and off the roads until the storm passes,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said.

About 150 evacuees were camped out at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, speedway spokesman Scott Cooper said.

Residents of North Carolina’s Outer Banks brace for Dorian – CBS 17.com

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Minnesotan’s in Bahamas comment on Hurricane Dorian relief efforts

On By peanutgallerynhIn Caribbean,, Environment,Leave a comment

“It’s total devastation,” said Basil Christie, a graduate of St John’s University in Minnesota who is now the hurricane relief coordinator for the Archdiocese of Nassau. “This one is going to be a serious challenge because you can’t get to the islands. Both airports are underwater, so we can’t travel there.”

Basil Christie: “That’s completely destroyed, and school was to have been opened this week. There’s no school. There’s no building there.”

Kent Erdahl: “Are those students accounted for?”

Basil Christie: “Only some of them. We’re still trying. The difficulty is we have no communication.”

…The number of confirmed deaths …[is now] 20.

“We are certain that there are considerably more than that,” he said. “There are whole families that are missing; [that] we can’t find.”

…Building code on the islands required buildings to withstand winds of 150 miles per hour, but Dorian packed 185 mile per hour winds that were sustained for a day and a half.

Minnesotan’s in Bahamas comment on Hurricane Dorian relief efforts | kare11.com

A rescue, a reunion and a rush to help in Dorian’s aftermath

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The fearsome Category 5 storm blew out the supposedly hurricane-proof windows, turning the glass into razor-sharp shrapnel that opened a wide gash on her knee.

Then the 89-year-old woman and her caretaker settled in to wait for help, and conditions soon worsened.

…The Bahamian government sent hundreds of police and marines into the stricken islands, along with doctors, nurses and other health care workers. The U.S. Coast Guard, Britain’s Royal Navy and relief organizations including the United Nations and the Red Cross joined the burgeoning effort to rush food and medicine to survivors and lift the most desperate people to safety by helicopter.

…At Cottis’ home, the two women heard helicopters overhead and cars driving past, but the weather and massive flooding prevented any assistance.

…Help finally arrived in the form of neighbor Ben Allen, a 40-year-old construction worker and maintenance man, who showed up with a minivan to take Cottis to get medical attention. Cottis …struggled to stand up and nearly fell over when the group tried to get her into the vehicle, which had a partially collapsed roof and was filled with wet cardboard.

…All of a sudden, Cartwright screamed, “That’s my son! That’s my son!”

She hustled out of the car and swept the 29-year-old marine welder and father of two into her arms as she cried. She had not known until that moment if he was alive. 

A rescue, a reunion and a rush to help in Dorian’s aftermath – ABC News

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Microplastics found in the Sargasso Sea – CNN

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Embedded in most of the sargassum are the easily visible pieces of trash: shampoo bottles, fishing gear, thick hard containers or thin soft bags amongst many other types of plastic. One of the scientists points out fish bite marks in a small plastic sheet we pull out. But what is really jarring is when you dive down and look into the blue and realize you are surrounded by tiny glittering pieces of broken up plastic.

…Greenpeace scientists say they found “extreme” concentrations of microplastic pollution in the Sargasso Sea, although they are still reviewing their findings. In one sample, they discovered almost 1,300 fragments of microplastic — more than the levels found last year in the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

…A study off the shore of Bermuda back in the early 1970s found 3,500 pieces of plastic per square kilometer. A more recent, as yet unpublished study by the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo found that nearly 42% of fish samples had ingested microplastics.

…Only around 9% of plastic produced has ever been recycled. [A lot] single-use plastics end up in landfills or are burned in huge toxic fires. Some finds its way into our rivers or the oceans.

“This goes into the food chain.” Ojeda explains. “The fish and shrimps eat the plastic, we are eating them or the fish that eat them, and this will end up in our bodies.”

…The weight of evidence that humans are contaminating one of our major food sources is overwhelming — not only introducing potential toxins into our own bodies, but also polluting whole ecosystems.

…Few of us witness what is out in the open oceans far from our homes, which is one of the many challenges for ocean protection and why few truly understand how dire the situation is. Out of sight, out of mind.

But in reality, it’s ending up right back in front of us — and inside us — even though we may not see it.

…”We need to look at the types of plastic we are using and eliminate the ones that can’t be recycled. We need to tidy up land-based sources (landfills and the like).”

…”If you as a consumer are going to the supermarket and you are unable to buy something which is not wrapped in plastic it’s not your fault. …It’s companies; companies need to take the step, need to lead the change — and governments need to push the companies.

For the oceans to recover to we need to stop them (plastics) now. If we are thinking we can stop them in 10 years, we can phase them out, no: we need to stop single-use plastic. Then the seas will have time to clean up.”

Microplastics found in the Sargasso Sea – CNN

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David Koch reshaped America for the worse. His life’s work was the destruction of others

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Environment,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

“villain”

…Indeed, such is the appropriate term for a profoundly wealthy man who relies on a shadowy network of political advocacy groups to sell unpopular, detrimental policies to unsuspecting voters for the purposes of personal gain. 

…David and Charles, colloquially known as the infamous “Koch Brothers,” poured money into causes like climate change denial to ensure their fossil fuel empire remained profitable for as long possible. ….They went after unions through proxies like former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. They targeted Social Security for privatization. According to one report, they even tried to hamper cleanup efforts after Hurricane Katrina. 

And these are just some of the worthy causes David Koch and his brother used their vast fortunes to pursue. The reality is, given the porous nature of America’s campaign finance laws, there is no way of truly knowing the complete extent of their political ventures. 

David Koch reshaped America for the worse. His life’s work was the destruction of others | The Independent

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Maine Voices: Lobstermen threatened with the extinction of their way of life

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In response to the threat of lawsuits, the National Marine Fisheries Service has pressured Maine into a proposal to reduce, by 50 percent, the number of vertical lines Maine fishermen use to haul their lobster traps. The only problem with this is that there is not one instance where a right whale entanglement and/or death was proven to have been caused by a Maine vertical fishing line.

Most Maine lobster gear is tended much closer to the coast than right whales would normally traverse. There are rare exceptions, but the vast majority of whales travel far offshore through the Gulf of Maine. Most Maine fishermen have never seen a right whale, including fishermen offshore, who already fish long trawls to reduce the number of vertical lines as much as can be safely done.

Maine Voices: Lobstermen threatened with the extinction of their way of life – CentralMaine.com

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Lā Ho‘iho‘i Ea Observed at Maunakea

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The demonstration started 18 days ago by various groups who believe that Maunakea is sacred and say construction atop the mountain will further desecrate the site.  On Tuesday, the governor rescinded an emergency proclamation at Maunakea and the state issued a two-year extension to Sept. 26, 2021 on the deadline to initiate construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope project atop the mountain.

Maui Now : Lā Ho‘iho‘i Ea Observed at Maunakea, Jason Momoa Visits

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Edible film made from essential oils can protect foods better than plastic

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Using low-speed mixing and ultrasonication techniques, the researchers formed coarse emulsions and nanoemulsions, respectively, of both clove bud (Syzygium aromaticum) and oregano (Origanum vulgare). They then added methylcellulose, a type of edible fiber, in order to create film sheets out of the essential oils.

When they applied the edible sheets to preservative-free bread, the team observed a marked decrease in both yeast and mold counts after 15 days, with the smaller-sized particles providing more enhanced preservation. Compared to calcium propionate and plastic, the essential oil sheets maintained the bread’s freshness for longer and did not wear off like conventional preservatives.

…”Leachables from plastics can include everything from leftover monomer building blocks to additives used to make plastic strong or malleable,” reads a report by Chemical & Engineering News, which is published by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

“Probably the most infamous leachable from plastics is bisphenol A (BPA), which is used as a building block in polycarbonate bottles and in the epoxy-resin liners of metal cans.”

Edible film made from essential oils can protect foods better than plastic – NaturalNews.com

The freshness is nice but a few questions…

What is the shelf-life?

What happens when it gets wet?

How complicated and expensive is it to make?

And last but certainly not least, it’s less about the freshness and more about a substitute for plastic packaging.

Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Europe,, Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

While changes in the travel industry have tended to pressure night trains off the market, it’s clear that there is still some appetite for them among travelers. When Germany’s Deutsche Bahn halted its night services in 2017, Austrian Federal Railways took over some of the key routes. The takeover has proved to be a success, with passenger numbers on the services …rising from 1.4 million to 1.6 million between 2017 and 2018, a rise in profits, and talk of expansion. Meanwhile, well-established leisure services such as the London-to-Scotland Caledonian Sleeper continue to thrive.

The overnight train services remain popular because many people actually like them. The duration of travel, of course, is usually far longer than by plane, even when layovers and security are factored in, but there are other compensations. Generally scheduled to leave late evening and arrive before the working day begins, night trains offer the possibility of sleep and more leisurely travel compared to an early-morning rush to the airport. They can also be reasonably priced: On the Vienna-to-Berlin night service, for example, a one-way ticket with a reclining sleeper seat starts at €29 ($32.50), a couchette (a four- or six-person compartment whose bunks fold down into comfortable seating during the day) at €49 ($55), and a single-berth sleeper with private toilet and shower at €139 ($159). If the trip saves you the cost of a hotel room, many people seem to be noting, that’s not a bad deal.

So while the outlook seemed bleak just a few years ago, Sweden’s plan arrives at a time when the sector’s fortunes seem to be brightening once more.

…Getting more people on the rails can only have a positive effect in reducing the carbon footprint of international mobility.

Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains – CityLab

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Irish Teen Wins 2019 Google Science Fair For Removing Microplastics From Water

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Microplastics are defined as having a diameter of 5nm or less and are too small for filtering or screening during wastewater treatment. Microplastics are often included in soaps, shower gels, and facial scrubs for their ability to exfoliate the skin. Microplastics can also come off clothing during normal washing.

These microplastics then make their way into waterways and are virtually impossible to remove through filtration. Small fish are known to eat microplastics and as larger fish eat smaller fish these microplastics are concentrated into larger fish species that humans consume.

Ferreira used a combination of oil and magnetite powder to create a ferrofluid in the water containing microplastics. The microplastics combined with the ferrofluid which was then extracted.

After the microplastics bound to the ferrofluid, Ferreira used a magnet to remove the solution and leave only water.

After 1,000 tests, the method was 87% effective in removing microplastics of all sorts from water. The most effective microplastic removed was that from a washing machine with the hardest to remove being polypropylene plastics.

Irish Teen Wins 2019 Google Science Fair For Removing Microplastics From Water

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Rep. Cheney Accuses Tribes of “Destroying our Western Way of Life” Over Grizzly Protections

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Removing protections from the bear, revered as sacred to a multitude of tribes, would have left the grizzly vulnerable to high-dollar trophy hunts and lifted leasing restrictions on some 34,375 square miles. Extractive industry, livestock and logging interests are among those desirous of capitalizing on the area, a region comprised of tribal treaty, reserved rights and ceded lands.

…“I would remind the Congresswoman that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition an estimated 100,000 grizzly bears roamed from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. That was all Indian Country. Now there are fewer than 2,000 grizzly bears and our people live in Third World conditions on meager reservations in the poorest counties in the US. Does she really want to talk about ‘destroying’ a ‘way of life’?” asked Rodgers.

…Tribal Nations, including the Oglala Sioux Tribe which petitioned for a Congressional inquiry into the influence of multi-national fossil-fuel corporations on FWS’s grizzly delisting decision, previously exposed the role of extractive industry in the process. USFWS engaged multinational oil and gas services group, Amec Foster Wheeler, for the peer review of its grizzly delisting rule that tribes and environmental groups deconstructed in court. Amec Foster Wheeler appointed Halliburton executive Jonathan Lewis as CEO in the same timeframe as USFWS contracted the company.

“That puts ‘harmful to the ecosystem’ into its true context,” responded Rodgers. “The Cheney family’s connections to Halliburton hardly needs elaborating upon,” added Chief Stan Grier, President of the Blackfoot Confederacy Chiefs. 

…“There’s more chance of her father receiving the Nobel Peace Prize than her “Grizzly Bear State Management Act” reaching the House floor,” said Rodgers of Cheney’s bill.

Rep. Cheney Accuses Tribes of “Destroying our Western Way of Life” Over Sacred Grizzly Protections — Native News Online

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“We are in great danger”: In Amazon, indigenous Waiapi chief is killed by illegal miners

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Illegal gold miners armed with automatic weapons and shotguns, invaded the remote indigenous community of the Waiapi and murdered one of its chiefs in Brazil’s northern Amazon last week

…One of the group’s leaders, Viseni Waiapi, said in an audio message sent to NBC reporters Saturday in Portuguese.

“We are in great danger,” Viseni said. The invaders assaulted women and children and were accompanied by a pit bull as they roamed around several Waiapi villages day and night last week, using special night vision goggles to navigate the area in the dark, he said.

…While waiting two days for the police to arrive, the Waiapi sent a group of their own warriors to guard the villages being invaded and gunshots were heard along the only road that leads into Waiapi territory. By the time police arrived on Sunday, the invaders had fled into the jungle.

…This attack on Waiapi land is one of the latest in a slew of ongoing, and increasingly frequent, invasions and assaults on indigenous territories throughout Brazil by illegal miners, ranchers and loggers.

Currently, there at least 10,000 miners illegally occupying and exploiting Brazil’s indigenous Yanomami land in northern Brazil. These sorts of invasions have increased by 150 percent since Brazil’s right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, took power earlier this year.

…Bolsonaro has repeatedly vowed to allow commercial mining and farming on indigenous lands, which are officially reserved for indigenous people’s exclusive use under Brazil’s Constitution since 1988. 

…Bolsonaro has said that indigenous peoples do not have a culture and has compared them to zoo animals. He has also said they should be assimilated into the public or integrated into the army. Years ago, he suggested that Brazil should have killed off its indigenous peoples, saying “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.”

…These invaders are committing illegal activities and should be arrested, prosecuted and fined, she said, suggesting there be paid federal employees stationed on indigenous lands to help monitor and protect vulnerable groups like the Waiapi. The community remained completely isolated until the 1970s when it was nearly annihilated by a measles outbreak spread by illegal miners who got access through a new road.

Today, there are around 1500 Waiapi living in small thatched roof villages carved out of dense rainforest in Brazil’s northern state of Amapá near French Guiana. The community attributes its resilience to having well demarcated lands, which were officially recognized by the Brazilian government in 1996, and maintaining its traditional ways of living and protecting the rainforest.

…In the meantime, Watson said indigenous groups need GPS equipment, bulletproof vests and radios for their own land defense efforts. “If we do want to save the Amazon rainforest for the benefit of humanity, we have to find better and more immediate ways of supporting the indigenous peoples.”

…Watson said the current situation in Brazil’s Amazon region has become a “war zone” in which indigenous peoples are on the front lines protecting the world’s largest rainforest, which produces 20 percent of the planet’s oxygen. “They’re paying with their lives.”

“We are in great danger”: In Amazon, indigenous Waiapi chief is killed by illegal miners

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U of Hawaii pursues controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Media and Culture,, Religion,Leave a comment

Hawaiians’ protests have attracted the support of many across academe, who see the TMT — in the words of geneticist Keolu Fox of UC San Diego and physicist Chandra Prescod-Weinstein of the University of New Hampshire — as colonial science.

“Far from some replay of an ancient clash between tradition and modernity, this is a battle between the old ways of doing science, which rely on forceful extraction (whether of natural resources or data), and a new scientific method, which privileges the dignity and humanity of indigenous peoples, including Hawaiians and the black diaspora,” they wrote in The Nation. “It is a clash between colonial science — the one which, under the guise of progress, has all too often helped justify conquest and human rights violations — and a science that respects indigenous autonomy.”

Hulali Kau, a writer and advocate working in Native Hawaiian and environmental law, said, “To anyone that continues to try to frame TMT as a science versus culture argument, I would say that this struggle over the future of Mauna Kea is actually about how we manage resources and align our laws and values of Hawaii to connect a past where the state has subjected its indigenous people to continued mismanagement of it lands with its uncertain future.”

Among many concerns, including the university’s past management of the observation space, Kau said she worries that the TMT will include two 5,000 gallon tanks installed two stories below ground level for chemical and human waste. 

Mauna Kea, a conservation district, is home to the largest aquifer in Hawaii, she said. “There are still questions as to the environmental consequences.”

Kau noted that the university was previously embroiled in an indigenous space dispute, when it attempted to patent three strains of taro, or “kalo,” a popular food source. It finally dropped the patents several years later, in 2006. 

U of Hawaii pursues controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea and is leading indigenous institution

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