The purpose of the Hawai'i 2050 Sustainability Summit in Waikiki yesterday morning was to unveil the long-awaited draft plan — compiled after more than a year of community gatherings by the state sustainability task force — designed to chart a viable and lasting course for the Islands over the next four decades.

Although there would be tough obstacles to overcome, the feeling of the nearly 1,000 people at the event was that Hawai'i's best interests could prevail with bold leadership, inspired initiatives and a commitment by the citizenry.

But after the optimistic greetings and remarks by legislators and county mayors, the gravity of the challenge was made clear when a panel of nine high school students from public and private schools took the stage at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.

They were there to discuss "civic engagement," and their own roles in Hawai'i's future.

The students had just finished expressing their mutual hope for Hawai'i in the coming years when panelist Paul Iona of Kamehameha Schools was asked if he thought he would live in Hawai'i after graduation.

"To be frank, no," he said without hesitation — which garnered a follow-up question asking for a show of hands of all those on the panel who did expect to be in Hawai'i when they are age 35.

Not one hand went up. Instead, the teenagers sat and stared in silence, as if they couldn't believe it themselves.

There was a pause, an audible gasp, and nervous laughter from the audience — after which the tone of the meeting wasn't the same.

Throughout the morning, stinging reminders continued to jolt those present, such as the fact that the present high school dropout rate in Hawai'i stands at 36 percent.

Iona, who as a child thought he'd leave the Islands but one day return, said now he doubted he would ever end up a resident of Hawai'i.

"It's actually really a sad idea," he said. "To think that our youth are already thinking, 'Oh, I can't live here; there's not enough affordable housing; the high cost of living is making it impossible.' "

DRAMATIC COMPARISON

Keynote speaker Terry Tamminen, who pioneered many of California's environmental policies, does a decent Arnold Schwarzenegger imitation, and travels the country spreading the gospel of sustainability, added both discomfort and inspiration to the mix. He compared the Hopi people of Arizona — who have maintained a sustainable lifestyle for thousands of years — to the fate of the Easter Islanders, who were reduced to cannibalism after they'd squandered the resources of their once robust island.

Tamminen asked which of the two paths are the people of Hawai'i likely to take — that of the successful Hopi, or the unsustainable path of the Easter Islanders?

"It's not going to be easy," he said. "The time ahead is going to be a challenge, make no mistake.

"But here's the good news. We are taking action. ... The action is happening right here. Where else would you find a thousand people coming together on a Saturday morning to talk about sustainability, to talk about reinventing their lives and investing in the future of their children?

"I thank every single one of you for what you're doing. Because as I said before, some places you do this and the world wouldn't notice. You do it in a place like Hawai'i, and everyone will sit up and take notice."

Following a morning break, the summit concentrated on a detailed look at the draft plan.

Over the past 18 months, the Hawai'i 2050 task force looked at the issues the state faces, as well as trying to predict future problems.

They've come up with some lofty goals.

Today, the state's infrastructure is deteriorating, affordable housing is insufficient, the Islands are heavily reliant on imported food and energy and residents have raised concerns about the growing number of people coming to the state — whether to visit or to live.

If the plan is followed, by 2050, more food should be locally produced, more energy should come from renewable resources and growth should be under control, all without robbing Hawai'i of its natural and cultural resources and preserving its unique sense of place.

'TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE'

Much was said yesterday about the importance of maintaining community input throughout the planning process. Many of those thoughts were included in copies of the draft plan that were handed out to every person at the summit.

In addition to the public meetings, the pulse of the community was gathered by a public opinion survey by SMS Research.

"We put together about 28 questions that were taken directly from the findings of the public meetings," said James Dannemiller, of SMS Research, which conducted the poll. "We asked a sample of 2,000 Hawai'i residents, about 500 per county, how they felt about that.

"And this is what we found out: First, there was no single preferred future for the state of Hawai'i for 2050. Different people in Hawai'i want different kinds of futures and they attach different priorities to each of the pieces of that future. That is precisely what makes the job of putting this plan together such a challenge."

The key is finding the balance between economic, environmental and community goals, which Sen. Russell Kokubun, chairman of the task force, calls the "triple bottom line."

After talking to thousands of attendees at community meetings and seeing the results of online and scientific polls, said Kokubun, D-2nd (S. Hilo, Puna, Ka'u), "what's interesting to me is that so many of these thoughts are universal in terms of Hawai'i, if there was a little bit of a different spin from each of the island perspectives."

Among the biggest concerns are food and energy production and preservation of cultural values, he said.

ARIYOSHI'S TAKE

The draft is similar in intent to the Hawai'i State Plan developed in the 1970s during Gov. George Ariyoshi's administration. Ariyoshi spoke to the crowd yesterday about the importance of involving the youth of Hawai'i in the implementation of the draft plan.

He also talked about the fiscal responsibility.

"I felt very strongly that we had to be careful about how we spent our monies," Ariyoshi said before he addressed the crowd, noting that financial planning and careful spending allowed the state to wipe out deficits and provide three tax rebates. "I felt very good about it. That's how we planned during good times."

Ariyoshi said the state plan helped guide his administration's decisions about land use, which included a study of the windward region that led to the purchase of land in Waiahole Valley, Sacred Falls, and Malaekahana Bay, which became a state park. It also led to the creation of the Water Commission to look more carefully at what was happening to the state's water supply.

The state needs to come up with strategies to meet sustainability goals, he said.

"If I were to tell you we need to have agriculture, how would you do it? What would you do with it? How do you make it work?" Ariyoshi asked.

The Hawai'i 2050 draft plan contains what Kokubun calls "concept goals" as well as strategic actions. What it lacks is quantifiable goals, which could be added after gathering public response to the draft.

"I think that maybe that's what we need to shoot for," Kokubun said.

The final version of the plan will be finished in December and submitted to the Legislature. In January, one of the committee's working groups will likely submit bills that would complement the plan and could prioritize legislation, Kokubun said.