Mauna Kea Is Respected and Protected as Their Ancestor
Clip: 9/10/2026 | 2m 11sVideo has Closed Captions
Two sisters, Kapulei Flores and Hāwane Rios, share a responsibility to protect Mauna Kea.
These Native Hawaiian families have a deep connection and shared responsibility to care for Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain.
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Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Mauna Kea Is Respected and Protected as Their Ancestor
Clip: 9/10/2026 | 2m 11sVideo has Closed Captions
These Native Hawaiian families have a deep connection and shared responsibility to care for Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipKAPULEI: I see the Mauna every day, literally right from my house.
You can look right out the window and she's right there.
So I know a lot of us in my family, we use that to kinda just like start our days of like, "Oh, there is the Mauna time to address and greet her."
So it's nice to be able to see her and then be able to be like, "Ok, girl, this is like what I'm doing everything for."
♪ ♪ (hums softly).
My papa, my uncle, my mom, everyone have always said that there was always promise that that telescope would be the last one for every single telescope that's up there.
So a lot of empty promises, which is not really surprising and is why we are in the situation we are in now.
♪ ♪ HAWANE: Mauna Kea is our actual ancestor.
We are related to this mountain.
And so we are taught to take care of this place and we take care of our land as we take care of our "ohana," our family, as we take care of our, our elders.
Mauna a Wakea is an elder.
♪ ♪ All of our aquifers on this side of the island is fed by this mountain.
The Mauna calls in the rain and the snow, and that pure water form trickles down into all of our waterways.
And so when the mountain, you know, is calling for us to stand, it was automatic for me to come into the space to listen to my sister and to my mom and to know it's like an innate kuleana.
(chant).
How could we not stand for this?
NewCommunity Protests Massive Telescope Atop a Sacred Mountain
Video has Closed Captions
Thousands of Native Hawaiians and protectors of Mauna Kea gather in protest. (2m 17s)
Standing Above The Clouds Preview
Video has Closed Captions
Native Hawaiian mother-daughter activists stand to protect their sacred Mauna Kea. (30s)
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