When Hōkūle‘a entered the water for the first time in Kualoa 40 years ago, it was the beginning of a sail plan that has spanned generations and taken us on a 150,000-nautical-mile journey to reconnect a Pacific Ocean family of many people and cultures that share a history of voyaging and exploration. Here on our island home, Hōkūle‘a became part of a movement to revive Hawai‘i’s culture, language and way of life, which is now cherished around the world. Hōkūle‘a brings people together from all walks of life in a way that very few things can. There is something special about this human effort that brings together people of so many ages, ethnic groups, geographies and professions.

She does this at a time when we are in danger of losing the very fibers that hold us together, just when we need unity more than ever before. I see, in my lifetime, the fish disappearing, the ocean rising to cover more and more of our shores, marine debris on our beaches, houses pushing further and further up the ridgelines and out onto the lava fields, and a decline in our ability to embrace all members of our community.

As a voyaging ʻohana, we worry about what kind of home our children’s children will have here in Hawaii Nei. So we take to the sea again, this time not to discover new islands but to share new solutions and bring together a global community that will set the course for our next generations.

The name of our current worldwide voyage is Mālama Honua, "To Care for our Island Earth." We have already sailed 7,000 international nautical miles from Hawai‘i to Aotearoa, and at each stop, we have been humbled by Mālama Honua commitments from government leaders like the United Nations secretary general, to local mayors, families and school children. Leaders are increasingly looking with fresh eyes at the traditional practices and worldview that made it possible for indigenous people to thrive and maintain a healthy environment.

We are now sailing into new horizons. At this very moment, our crewmembers and friends in Auckland, New Zealand, are taking care of Hōkūle‘a in drydock and preparing her to leave the Pacific Ocean for the first time. During her 40th anniversary year, we will travel to Australia, Indonesia and South Africa, in a journey of respect to bring the world’s oldest cultures and world’s youngest cultures together to ask these questions: How can we work together to take better care of each other and Island Earth? What is the voyage of values that each person, regardless of their background and heritage, can take to celebrate our interdependence and use it to find a new way to live together on our shared canoe, this one planet that we have?

I have been fortunate enough to have the best teachers on Earth over the years. My parents taught me that success lies in how hard you work to prepare, and that no journey is complete until you give back to others. Mau Piailug embodied the lesson of cultivating leadership in others and sharing knowledge even when it might come at great personal loss. Eddie Aikau taught me a deep sense of compassion and the importance of honoring our kupuna and ancestors. Herb Kane and Ben Finney taught me to see with my heart instead of just my eyes, and have faith in what exists beyond the horizon. Yosio Kawano taught me to love the ocean and cherish and protect its gifts. And Lacy Veach, an astronaut who shared a passion for exploration, told me, "You have no idea how beautiful our Earth is until you see it from space. And the best place to think about the fate of our planet is right here in our islands. If we can create a model for well-being here in Hawai‘i, we can make a contribution to the entire world."

These teachers live within me constantly, but they are especially present when I visit classrooms and talk with students about what is important to them. At Kamehameha Schools recently, I asked the youngsters in a Mālama Honua class about their future. Unanimously, they wanted to travel and set their sights beyond our shores. And, universally, they wanted to have children of their own, and come home to Hawai‘i when it is time to raise their own families. Why?

Their stories came tumbling forward. Hawai‘i is a special place. It is home. And what makes it special and worth coming back to is our ʻāina, unique in this world, and our values. Universal values that guide a diverse community: In the words of Lacy Veach, "Hawai‘i’s culture is still kind."

Hōkūle‘a’s legacy is to help us set our course and define for ourselves what our individual and collective voyages will be. For the young people I spoke with, their voyage will require them to balance tradition, values, technology, nature and to be our leaders in seeing a new way forward. We can empower them to create inventive, compassionate solutions to some of the most difficult challenges that we face here, so that the Hawaiʻi they come home to is worthy of their children. And their solutions will have meaning to an entire planet struggling with the same challenges.

What is extraordinary about Hōkūle‘a is not what she does — it’s how she encourages people to see what they are capable of, inspiring people to take risks and create their own future, even if it is something they can’t quite yet imagine.

Nainoa Thompson is president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. In 1976 he became the first Hawaiian since the 14th century to use non-instrument wayfinding on long-distance ocean voyages. He is now spearheading Hōkūle‘a’s journey around the world on the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines.