On April 6, after years of analysis and debate, the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fourth Assessment Report. The official verdict: It's hot and getting hotter, even if mankind immediately and severely curtails greenhouse gas emissions.

This report follows the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, released late last year by Nicholas Stern, the former lead economist for the World Bank and now head of Britain's Economic Service. Stern's message: The benefits of strong, early action on climate change far outweigh the costs.

While the U.N. panel has pronounced the global warming debate over, Sir Nicholas has brought the familiar language and compelling logic of risk management to the task of shaping our future climate change dialogue. The web of life as we know it urgently depends upon a post-Kyoto vocabulary that can bring both the developed and developing worlds together around new concepts of abundance and wealth.

Among the Earth's inhabitants, islanders are uniquely equipped to bring sustainable practices to daily life — and, among islands, Hawai'i holds a special place as the most admired and recognized island chain. Over the past several decades, our archipelago has become synonymous with paradise, thus capturing the dreams of millions from nearly every corner of the world.

By tapping into the principles of self-reliance we learned as children of Hawai'i, and candidly assessing the lessons of overdependence on remote forces, we may be the world's best hope for demonstrating how communities can thrive by blending island consciousness with intelligent use of our sunlight, soils and waters.

Why is Hawai'i ready to become a model for sustainable living?

First, a nonsustainable lifestyle is a relatively new phenomenon for our Islands. Before the introduction of jet aircraft and cheap fuel 50 years ago, we lived a largely self-reliant lifestyle where agriculture reigned as our leading industry, and we lived with a heightened sense of our "islandness." Our fish came from nearby shores and our vegetables came from local farmers. We understood intuitively that our Islands were a closed ecosystem; and we knew if we took care of them, they would take care of us. Malama 'aina.

Second, there is a deep and meaningful difference in consciousness between those who live on islands and those who live on continents.

In the continental United States, our fellow Americans have a sense of security unavailable to islanders. Extensive power and transportation networks transcend municipal, county and state boundaries — providing greater flexibility and avenues of escape in times of emergency.

As islanders, we are faced with great personal and community challenges when disaster strikes. Many of us understand these lessons from personal experience. We know that we need to take a stand and work our way out of disasters largely on our own.

Third, we have come to understand the costs and limits of being a cargo cult. Each day we become more aware of the expensive and tenuous supply chain that brings much of our food, materials and fuel from "outside."

Today, just over a 10th of our food is grown in the Islands — the balance is furnished by a complex supply network extending to California, Canada, Holland, New Zealand, Israel and beyond. But we are gradually growing the capacity to feed ourselves, and local initiatives, such as Hawai'i BioEnergy and Enterprise Honolulu, are studying ways for us to locally source renewable fuels and materials.

Fourth, we know we need to cope with the detritus of our consumer culture. In an earlier era, we purchased items in bulk and reused our jars, cans and rice sacks. Today, we import a nonstop parade of trash in the form of packaging for which there is no after-market use on an island. We cannot forget that every box, can, bottle, wrapper and plastic bag stays right here.

During a debate about where to place the next O'ahu landfill, one City Council member seriously suggested shipping the waste stream back to the Mainland. Instead of asking the question of how to eliminate the concept of the "waste," the assumption was that the waste stream would simply continue to grow. But this debate has sharpened our thinking on recycling, upcycling and what it takes to eliminate waste before it happens.

Finally, we have learned the importance of holistic planning. As children, many of us walked or rode bikes to school and the neighborhood store because our towns were built that way. Today, we reproduced the worst of Mainland suburbia by building isolated housing subdivisions miles away from jobs, schools and commercial centers. We have made walking and riding bikes dangerous, life-threatening activities.

As islanders, we have paid dearly over the past century to re-learn the importance of self-reliance and taking full responsibility for the character of our communities. It is from these hard lessons that we can formulate a practical and compelling alternative to the profligate and unsustainable ways of the past century — stimulating many lawmakers to start thinking seriously about integrated policy and planning efforts like the Hawaii 2050 visioning task force.

Sustainable living is in Hawai'i's DNA. The proof of this is in our motto, "Ua mau ke ia o ka 'aina i ka pono." In our hearts, we islanders know what it means to do the right thing by our 'aina because those who came before us taught us these lessons.

For many of us, it will take a great leap of faith to envision our Islands as the ideal place to invent a balanced and self-reliant future. But it is an even greater leap of faith to expect answers to miraculously appear from elsewhere — as who among us can name a better place on Earth to bring sustainable living into clear and vivid focus than these Islands?

We can make good choices for our descendents so they, too, will be able to experience the Hawai'i that we love. What's more, by returning to our island roots and living our values, we can serve as an inspiration for the rest of the world.

David C. Cole is chairman of Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc. and the Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.