Game of Thrones star Jason joins ‘We are Mauna Kea’ campaign to protest new telescope

GAME of Thrones star Jason Momoa has let his pecs do the talking in a new campaign that’s also fired up Nicole Scherzinger, Zoe Kravitz and Ian Somerhalder.

GAME of Thrones star Jason Momoa has joined Nicole Scherzinger, Zoe Kravitz, Ian Somerhalder and other stars in a new social media campaign protesting against a construction project on Hawaii’s big island.

The stars have joined the ‘We are Mauna Kea’ campaign, calling on authorities to halt the construction of an enormous deep-space observatory on the dormant volcano (Mauna Kea) that is held sacred to some native Hawaiians.

Momoa, who was born in Honolulu to a native Hawaiian father, scrawled the campaign message on a place where it was sure to attract attention: on his pectoral muscles.

My brother Jason Mamoa aka @PrideofGypsies standing for not destroying this magical land https://t.co/h7lIwgXCPD pic.twitter.com/BvXjj3zpfJ

— ian somerhalder (@iansomerhalder) April 7, 2015

After more than a week of demonstrations and more than a dozen arrests, Hawaii Governor David Ige this week intervened, requesting a one-week suspension of construction works.

Scientists say Hawaii’s tallest peak Mauna Kea is ideal for the Thirty Metre Telescope, which could allow them to see into the earliest years of the universe.

The volcano stands 4200 metres above sea level and is believed to have last erupted 4600 years ago.

How the telescope will look ... an artist renderingof the planned Thirty Meter Telescope. Picture: AP Photo/Thirty Meter Telescope

Governor Ige said he hoped the temporary pause in construction works would allow the interested parties to have more discussions about the project.

Native Hawaiian groups have been protesting the construction of the telescope since its inception last year.

Kealoha Pisciotta, a critic of the telescope project and protest organiser, said the governor’s announcement was a positive development but opponents would continue to advocate against the project.

Roadblock ... protesters blocked access to the Thirty Meter Telescope groundbreaking ceremony in October last year. Picture: AP Photo/Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Hollyn Johnson

“I think that’s a good sign, but he needs to understand however that we can’t just stand down,” said Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.

Ige “inherited these problems from the previous administration that had not done well by the people of Hawaii or the mountain”, Pisciotta said.

Hundreds have recently protested the construction on the mountain, and more than a dozen people were arrested last week for blocking the road that leads to the top of the mountain.

Protesters arrested ... Department of Land and Natural Resources officers arrest a protester on the road to the Thirty Meter Telescope building site on the summit of Mauna Kea. Picture: AP Photo/Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Hollyn Johnson

Originally published as Game of Thrones star Jason joins ‘We are Mauna Kea’ campaign to protest new telescope