Forty years ago today, the voyaging canoe Hōkūle‘a embarked from Hakipu‘u/Kualoa on Oahu, on a journey to Tahiti; it was the first open-ocean voyage from Hawaii in 600 years using traditional, non-instrument wayfinding.

Today, Hōkūle‘a and its sister ship, Hikianalia, are on a four-year Mā̄lama Honua Worldwide Voyage: from 2013 through 2017, they aim to cover 47,000 nautical miles to 85 ports and 26 nations.

In essays here, three people key to the expedition share perspectives about the importance of Hawaii to the globe on how to mālama honua — "care for our Earth." Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian Voyaging Society president, crewed aboard Hōkūle‘a from Tahiti in 1976, and in 2013, helped launched the current voyage; Randie Fong is vice president of cultural affairs at Kamehameha Schools; and Sam Gon III is senior scientist/cultural adviser for The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i.