Tag Archives: PBS

History, Mauna Kea

Amazing Video Clip on the Mountain!

Richard Ha writes:

One day when I was on the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board’s Thirty Meter Telescope committee, along with Roberta Chu and Bob Saunders, Bob asked me what my father’s name was. I told him, and he said, “I want to show you something.”

He had a CD of the PBS Hawaii video called First Light, which was about the building of the first telescope atop Mauna Kea. He played it for me and then stopped it and said, “Look at that! What is that?”

I was stunned. It was a video clip of my pop operating his bulldozer on the summit.

(Used here with permission of Leslie Wilcox/PBS Hawai‘i)

Back in 1964 or so, Pop had a contract to help build the road to the top of Mauna Kea. I was away at school then, so I don’t know all the details.

Here’s a clip from the video. Look at the name across the top of the TD 30 there: “Richard Ha.” That was my pop. I’m Junior.

Richard ha sr bulldozer

Life really has a way of coming full circle, doesn’t it!

Video

Watch ‘Seeds of Hope’ on PBS This Thursday

We are in this PBS program. Watch it Thursday at 9 p.m. on PBS.

PBS Hawaii presents "Seeds of Hope"
Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 9:00 pm

Maui filmmaker Danny Miller's documentary tells the story of Hawaii's return to local and traditional methods of growing food. Through the voices of farmers, teachers, industry experts and community members, it covers traditional Hawaiian agriculture, pressures of urban development, the plantation legacy and solutions to solving the state's growing food insecurity.

Geothermal

Hawaii: Roots of Fire

I just happened to run across Hawaii: Roots of Fire, a new PBS documentary about the hidden forces driving the planet’s largest and most active volcanic system – the one here in the Hawaiian Islands.

Here’s a clip from the documentary:

This is especially significant because geothermal energy has been so prominent in political discussions here these last few days.

According to the documentary, the lava upwelling that formed the chain of islands up to the Aleutians Islands originated from below the mantle, and maybe even from the earth’s core. This process has been going on for 75 million years.

Geothermal energy does not come from the “hot spot.” It originates in stored heat from old lava flows. So the use of geothermal energy does not interfere with Pele’s ability to make land. Lava for new land (like the new island Lo‘ihi that is forming on the bottom of the ocean right now) comes directly from the hot spot.

This next video is also worth a look. It’s a podcast that lets you tour some of the Big Island’s geologic and cultural sites.

Take a virtual tour of the Big Island of Hawaii’s unmatched volcanic features with volcano expert Dr. Donald DePaolo of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley.  This tour is hosted by geologist and filmmaker Doug Prose, co-producer of Hawaii: Roots of Fire.  You will visit eleven important geologic and cultural sites on the Big Island outside of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  It starts in Hilo and ends at South Point.  If you want to see these amazing places in person, download the map and take it with you.  Allow a few days to visit every place quickly, but you could easily spend a full day at each place exploring! 

More on this here.