Hawaii Today: 2nd explosion, Lava hell from unstoppable Mauna loa volcano going Major Highway.
Some Native Hawaiians oppose what they see as further exploitation of their sacred places, including volcanoes. A series of protests against the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope to be built atop Mauna Kea has delayed the ambitious project, which could provide scientists with a new window into the universe.Even viewing volcanic eruptions can be a source of conflict.
Since the eruption started, officers with Hawaii’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement have found at least a dozen people trespassing on foot in the Mauna Loa Forest Reserve, near the active lava zone. On Sunday, another trespasser walking on dried lava in the military training area found unexploded ordnance, forcing the site to be shut down for several hours.Some Native Hawaiians question the measures that some outsiders will take to get pictures of lava, while also chafing at what they view as an oversimplification of their Hawaiian beliefs.
For some Kānaka Maoli with genealogical ties to the volcano goddess Pele as a deified ancestor, an eruption is something to be accepted, possibly even celebrated.People here say, ‘I’ve cleaned my house, prepared everything to welcome her,’ said Ms. ho’omanawanui, the scholar of Hawaiian folklore and mythology. The tourism industry, a pillar of the state’s economy, is perhaps the largest ongoing source of tension. It drew some 250,000 visitors to the islands — more than the Big Island’s population — on ay given day in 2019.
