Among Hawaiians, virtuous behavior is said to be felt in your gut. It is a cultural touchstone, a philosophy embraced by a single word that filmmaker Don Mapes speaks with all the reverence he can muster. The word is pono.

Mapes has long viewed it as more than a word. For him, it represents a way of life with the power to make Hawai'i a better place to live.

He has rolled the belief around in his mind for the past 10 years, asking himself how best to explain it to the masses. Often, he mulled it over with his good friend, musician Kawika Kahiapo.

This week, when KGMB9 airs a 90-minute special the two men produced — "Life in These Islands" — Mapes may have found his explanation. Through music and interviews with people Mapes and Kahiapo call unsung heroes, the special celebrates the culture of the Islands.

But the program is more than a feel-good tribute to good deeds. Throughout, its segments challenge viewers to re-examine how they treat their community — or else risk losing much of what makes their home so unique.

Mapes believes that answering the challenge is everyone's kuleana, which is Hawaiian for responsibility.

"Our thing is to say to people, you have a responsibility to get back to what's important: taking care of yourself, taking care of your family, taking care of your community," Mapes said. "That's what living pono is all about. That is what living with aloha is all about."

The hope of "Life in These Islands" is to inspire discussion.

"How can we start the conversation?" Mapes said. "What are we going to do about the future? What are we going to do about getting back to what is important? How are we going to raise our children?"

'SOUNDING BOARD'

The program, hosted by actor Jason Scott Lee and radio personality Skylark Rossetti, focuses a lot on the concept of sustainability, especially when it comes to the economy and the environment.

Lee was an obvious choice as host because the actor, who grew up in Pearl City, set aside some of his career so he could move to the Big Island and live off the land. "This is, for me, my best approach that I could think of that would allow me to be a better human being," said Lee during the special. "You gotta be the change you want to see in the world. The time is now to make it happen and we need everyone's help."

The special has numerous stories of low-profile leadership and community programs infused with Hawaiian values.

"I keep reminding myself that we are not creating anything," Kahiapo said. "We are just a sounding board and an advocate for the heroes in the community."

Mapes and Kahiapo, who have known each other for 15 years, named their TV special for a Na Hoku award-winning song Kahiapo wrote in 2004.

"It talks about the uniqueness of our island lifestyle and how we need to rally together to protect it," said Kahiapo, a member of the group Kaukahi.

In the special, Kahiapo also joins recording star and local boy Jack Johnson to perform a version of "Upside Down" in a shorts-and-slippers backyard setting.

Kahiapo is a board member of Johnson's Kokua Hawai'i Foundation, often visiting schools to preach the principles of recycling. He's also a minister of a small church in He'eia Kea.

SURVIVING HARDSHIPS

The 49-year-old Kahiapo grew up in Kane'ohe but now lives in Waimanalo. He and Mapes, who is 54 and an elder in Kahiapo's church, discussed the prospect of a project like this for several years.

Mapes would provide the video expertise. An award-winning filmmaker, he has worked with nearly every network in the United States during his 33-year career.

"We knew there was some stuff we were connecting on, spiritually and culturally," Kahiapo said. "Our dream was to do something like this."

They got serious in February 2008 and by April had raised $60,000. In June they began to interview people in the community who they felt were living pono. Then the economy crashed in the fall, depleting the portfolios of potential sponsors.

But instead of giving up, Mapes started funding the project out of his own pocket.

"In a lot of ways, this has been really difficult to stay focused," he said. "But you know you have this kuleana to do it, so you press on."

He was able to convince KGMB to air the special, originally conceived as an hourlong broadcast, on the strength of his message. If the public likes it, the hope is that KGMB will air shorter, monthly versions, Mapes said.

A SHARED TASK

The special includes an interview with Jan Dill, president of Partners in Development Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with families in many poverty-stricken rural communities, foster care programs, mentoring programs and the homeless.

People need to set aside their differences and find "anchor points for our future," he said. One of the strongest is aloha.

"You don't need to be part Hawaiian necessarily to recognize and embrace the importance of aloha, of reaching out and mutual education and support that is really a touchstone of Hawaiian culture," Dill said. "I think it is important that we are reminded of this as we begin to face the challenges before us."

But Dill, a Kamehameha Schools graduate, said aloha has "a hard edge."

"Aloha also means you have to be responsible," he said. "As you are given opportunities, you are challenged and responsible, in turn, to serve others."

Ramsay Taum, a Hawaiian cultural and sustainability expert, offers one of the show's most powerful messages when he explains the meaning of the word "Hawai'i."

Understand the meanings behind each syllable — "Ha" for the breath of life, "wai" for the water within each person and "i" for the spiritual forces that create people — and you understand a special place, Taum said.

"It's a mission statement but it is also a metaphor that others can see themselves in, regardless of where they are," he said. "What is important about global knowledge of information is that it is transferable. I think Hawai'i is transferable. Someone can leave here and take Hawai'i with them."

Like others involved in the show, Taum believes deeply in a responsibility that comes with living in the Islands.

"We each should do something, even if it is a little bit," said Taum, chairman of the board of Sustain Hawai'i and director of external relations and community partnerships at the University of Hawai'i's School of Travel Industry Management.

"I would like to think that my grandchildren will be able to say they had a grandfather who did something and didn't just talk about it," he said. "There is a point where every one of us sees something that needs to be fixed and the question is, do we do something about it?"