For centuries before Western contact, many groups of indigenous people across the globe, with the exception of those that Jared Diamond described in Collapse and others, were entirely sustainable and successfully managed their resources. Included in those successful indigenous groups were the ancient Hawaiians whose spiritual beliefs and close ties with nature provided for a harmonious relationship. Upon settling in the Hawaiian Islands around 300 BCE, they enacted very sound resource management practices, including an efficient land and water system. Similar to many Native American tribes, ancient Hawaiians did not believe that they owned the land. Private ownership did not exist, as they believed that the land belonged to various Gods and deities. The people were simply the caretakers, and were expected to work harmoniously with nature. Like Vandana Shiva’s perspective in her book Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit (2002), ancient Hawaiians also gave water a mythical property, as they knew just how precious the resource was. They referred to the resource as wai ola, or water of life, as it gave life to their precious kalo (taro), the offspring of ancestor Haloa (Nakuina 2007).

1. Jared Diamond: Why do societies collapse?
2. Vandana Shiva on Water & Cultural Memory
3. Legend of Haloa