Are the Cosmos Worth Sacrificing Earth?

Ryan Barrow

ARE THE COSMOS WORTH SACRIFICING EARTH?

RyanBarrow()

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Ryan Barrow

INTRODUCTION: WORKING ON THE TMT

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Ryan Barrow

A brand new piece of technology is currently being constructed, and it has the capability to advance our society’s knowledge of the cosmos by immense amounts. I am talking about extremely large telescopes. These telescopes will be unlike anything currently constructed and will have the ability to measure and analyze what has never before been able to be studied before. One of these telescopes under construction is the Thirty Meter Telescope, commonly referred to as the TMT. I was recently hired to work on this telescope.

I am an industrial engineer working on the Thirty Meter Telescope. My job is to oversee and manage the construction of the foundation for the telescope. Therefore, I spend much of my time advising the engineers who I supervise, on what to do. I assign different tasks to individual engineers, each in charge of his or her own team of workers. I then report to my boss, Michael Bolte, an Associate Director for the TMT [1]. The Thirty Meter Telescope is not being designed or built by one single company. Instead, there is a board of governors made up of members from all over the world, and they oversee the entire project. There are also many partners involved, including the California Institute of Technology, the Department of Science and Technology of India, the National Research Council of Canada, and many more [1].

What is the Thirty Meter Telescope?

The Thirty Meter Telescope’s main goal is to find extraterrestrial life and research undiscovered planets. According to our website, “When completed, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will enable astronomers to study objects in our own solar system and stars throughout our Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies, and forming galaxies at the very edge of the observable Universe, near the beginning of time” [1]. I feel this statement explains better than anything just how powerful this telescope is going to be. The TMT has recently begun its construction in Mauna Kea Hawaii. It will take up 5 acres of land to construct and cost 1.4 billion dollars. Furthermore, it won’t be completed until 2022. This is a massive project that countless amounts of time and resources are being put into.

OPPOSITION TO THE TMT

My trip to work is very different than the average engineer. Mauna Kea is a string of mountains, and the TMT is being constructed on a plateau there. I have to drive up these mountains to get to work but I also now have to go through police barricades and am heckled at on my way there. Protestors are on the side of the road every day. They object to the creation of the Thirty Meter Telescope and are doing whatever they can to stop it. The police barricades have now been put in because the protestors have blocked the roadway on multiple occasions. Each morning, I see signs that say things such as “bulldoze your own temple”, or “space can wait, protect earth now.” Viewing these signs has provoked me to consider whether what I am doing is right. I am so distraught by all these protestors that I am now wondering whether I should continue working on the TMT.

Mauna Kea has been a popular spot for telescopes for years now. This is because it offers some of the best opportunities for astronomical studies. However, this mountain range is sacred to native Hawaiians [2]. This is the main reason for the protests. With the TMT being larger than any telescope currently constructed, the native Hawaiians feel it is ruining their sacred land. They are already very upset with the telescopes that are on Mauna Kea now, and are doing whatever they can to prevent the TMT from being manufactured. Mauna Kea is sacred to native Hawaiians because they consider its summit to be a temple and home to many Hawaiian gods [3].

Native Hawaiians, however, are not the only ones upset with the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Many people are opposed to the TMT because of its appearance and size. Mauna Kea is a beautiful place and some believe the Thirty Meter Telescope will ruin the natural beauty of Hawaii. The TMT is going to be significantly larger than anything else on the mountain and it is a man-made creation in a place of inherent elegance. Additionally, Mauna Kea is home to palila. Palila are a critically endangered species of Hawaiian honeycreepers, a finch-like type of birds. Many of the palila’s closely related ancestors have gone extinct, and efforts are now being put into effect to minimize the chances of this happening to the palila. However, the creation of the Thirty Meter Telescope will take away even more of the palila’s environment and make it increasingly harder for the species to survive. This has sparked additional controversy over the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.

WHO IS INVOLVED?

There are multiple groups and many individuals all promoting the same general message to stop the building of the TMT. Native Hawaiians have done the most in terms of drawing public attention to the negative effects of the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. The Hawaiians have formed one group simply called Protect Mauna Kea. This group has created numerous movements such as the recent one, ”I am Mauna Kea,” which has becomes increasingly popular via social media. There is also now frequent news coverage by the local Hawaiian news channels.

Government and the TMT

The government has recently become very involved in the TMT as well. Police now have to keep the roads clear for employees, such as myself, to get to the building site. Also, the Hawaii State Supreme Court has been reviewing the permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope. Finally, the governor of Hawaii, David Ige, is working with the University of Hawaii to aid in finding a solution to this disagreement.

Just a few weeks ago, construction was actually stopped because of the protestors. They had blockaded the road and that same day filed a law suit to stop construction. This is what caused the Supreme Court to be involved, and have to review the permit. Multiple protestors were also arrested that day. Luckily however, construction has restarted and with the police on the road, getting to work is much easier. Tension has also died down dramatically in just the last two days. This is in thanks to the mayor who has made additions to the comprehensive management plan. This plan is a guideline that the University of Hawaii follows in order to protect the cultural, natural, and scientific resources of Hawaii [4]. The additions the governor helped create will allow the University of Hawaii to decommission and destruct some of the smaller telescopes currently on Mauna Kea. Plans are already being made to decommission certain telescopes within the next few weeks, and work on the Thirty Meter Telescope is back on track.

IS WORKING HERE MORALLY RIGHT?

With all this going on, it makes me consider if I made the right decision to work on the Thirty Meter Telescope. I love my job and have worked very hard to get here, however, I don’t know if what I’m doing is right for the community and the environment. I’ve recently decided to do some research on others in similar situations, as well as review codes of ethics, and investigate what the protestors have been arguing.

Codes of Ethics

The first thing I did was look into the NSPE (National Society of Professional Engineers) code of ethics, as I have read this before and always have found it helpful. Unfortunately, I only found one statement that I felt applied to my situation. This is the statement that says, ”Engineers are encouraged to adhere to the principles of sustainable development in order to protect the environment for future generations” [5]. However, this is more of a general recommendation, rather than anything to base a concrete decision upon. The sustainable development proposal didn’t apply to me, but protecting the environment did. Knowing about the palila that live on the island makes me consider how much of an impact the Thirty Meter Telescope is really going to have on the environment, and whether the benefits from this extremely large telescope are worth the costs of creating it. I didn’t feel I got very much information from the NSPE code of ethics so I decided to also look up the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ code of ethics. One point stressed in this code is for engineers to aid in the enhancement of human welfare [6]. I personally believe that the research that will be able to be conducted with the TMT will aid in a large way. However, one could also consider the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope to be detrimental to human welfare. The more I consider it, the more I believe that the TMT is more helpful than harmful to human welfare.

How do the Protestors Feel?

After reading through the codes of ethics, I then realized that I may have an unfair opinion. I, at the time, knew all about the pros of the telescope but few of the cons. I wanted to know how the protestors felt and why they felt that way. I found the Facebook page for Protect Mauna Kea to be one of the most helpful sources of information. The articles, comments, and pictures posted on this page come directly from the protestors, and thus no bias is added through the media’s attempts to portray the beliefs of the protestors. On this page I learned all about why the native Hawaiians care so much about Mauna Kea, and about how it is so sacred to their religion [7]. Next, I decided to watch some of Hawai’i news. I found videos of news reports that were anywhere from one day to five weeks old, and they all provided me with some insight into how the outside world was seeing the situation. Also, where I used to just get annoyed with the protestors, I now feel empathy toward them, after watching videos where they were arrested [8]

Engineers in Comparable Situations

When I had finished this research on how the protestors felt, I wondered if anyone else had gone through a situation similar to this, and I was sure at least a few engineers had. I then decided to find some case studies that would apply to my situation. The first one I found was about an engineer who was asked to chop down many trees in order to widen a road. This would hurt the environment but make the road much safer. According to this case study, cutting down the trees is an example of destroying the environment for the sake of human progress [9]. This situation demonstrated how it is not worth it to hurt the environment. After reading this, I contemplated if there would be enough progress, in the form of research of astronomical bodies, to rectify the destruction of the environment caused by the Thirty Meter Telescope. I then found another case study that I found helpful in analyzing my dilemma. Although this article, provided by the National Society of Professional Engineers, seemed very different from anything I am dealing with, one quote seemed very relevant. This quote was that according to the NSPE, “Professional engineers have a fundamental obligation to act consistently with regard to such requirements because of their impact on the public health, safety, and welfare” [9]. There are many requirements for building such a large telescope on Mauna Kea and it is currently being debated to determine if the Thirty Meter Telescope is following these requirements. This is the main reason for the Hawaiian Supreme Court reviewing the TMT permit. If the Supreme Court were to deny this permit it would show that the TMT is not in the best interest for public health, safety, and welfare. The most prominent suggestion that I recognized in these studies is that I need to way my options and decide if the costs to the environment are worth the gains in research [10].

Additional Research on Ethics

Finally, I consulted two more sources before making my ultimate decision of whether to stay and work on the Thirty Meter Telescope or to quit and attempt to find a new job. The book Engineering, Ethics, and the Environment was more helpful than any other resource I had previously reviewed. This book specifically consults when engineers should value the environment over human gains and when the gains justify the environmental damage. It also helped me understand how the public views engineers. The book goes into great detail about how the public sees engineers as creators of problems rather than a solution to them [10]. This gave me greater insight into how the protestors felt and gave me a new way to analyze my situation. The last article I read was Engineering Ethics Beyond Engineers’ Ethics. This paper has information on whether or not it would be ethically right for me to leave my job. I then considered if it was appropriate for me to leave a job where I am in charge of others and they rely upon me. I now wondered how detrimental it would be for me to leave at such a crucial time in the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope. After reading this article, I decided if I were to leave, it would only be right for me to at least wait for the company to find a replacement that can do my same job.

A FINAL DECISION

After all my research into how the protestors felt, how others dealt with similar situations, and after reviewing different codes of ethics, I came to my final decision to continue working on the Thirty Meter Telescope. The main reason for this decision is the fact that other smaller telescopes are going to be dismantled. Therefore, I feel the change in the environment will not be nearly as severe as before. This led me to decide that it will be worth it to change the environment in order to gain the knowledge that will be received by creating the TMT.

Now that I have gone through this dilemma I feel I am better suited for other situations that will arise. I now have a much more concrete way to go about making assessments and decisions when faced with another problem such as this. I feel the most productive way of managing a predicament, especially one that involves ethics, is to first research all the different points of view. Doing this allows one to limit his or her bias and make a clearer judgement. Next, I find it helpful to compare the good with the bad and possibly even make a list to analyze the two sides. Doing this allows one to clearly see if a specific decision is worth it. Finally, when a decision has been made, in order to act most professional, consider how others will react and prepare for this by whatever means are felt necessary. For example, if I were to quit my job, I would have waited to stop working until I was able to be replaced. By following these general guidelines, I feel I will be much better prepared for dealing with other dilemmas in my future.

REFERENCES

[1] Thirty Meter Telescope. (2015). “About TMT.” TMT Observatory Corporation. (Website).

[2] N. Kaufman. (2009). “Place Race and Story.” (Book).

[3] D. Saks. (2011). “Indigenous Religious Traditions.” Colorado College. (Online Article).

[4] “Comprehensive Management Plan.” (2015). Office of Mauna Kea Management. (Online Article).

[5] “Code of Ethics for Engineers.” (2007). National Society of Professional Engineers.(Online Article).

[6] ”Engineering Code of Ethics.” (2015). Institute of Industrial Engineers.(Online Article).

[7] “Protect Mauna Kea.” (2015). (Online Blog).

[8] M. Lincoln. (2015). “TMT Protesters Distraught After Mauna Kea Altar Bulldozed.” (Online Article).

[8] “Cutting Roadside Tress.” (2006). National Academy of Engineering. (Online Article).

[9] “Public Health and Safety-Delay in Addressing Fire Code Violations.” (2014). National Society of Professional Engineers. (Online Article).

[10] “Practical Issues in Prioritizing Needs.” Stanford Biodesign. (Online Article).

[11] P. Vesilind. (1998). “Engineering, Ethics, and the Environment.” (Book)

[12] J. Basart. (2011). “Engineering Ethics Beyond Engingineers’ Ethics.” (Online Article).

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

L. Mueck. (2015). “Three Colossi Reach for the Sky.” Engineering & Technology. (Online Article). ISSN: 1750-9637

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank my family for helping me come to this decision of continuing my work at the Thirty Meter Telescope.

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