When I drive around O'ahu, my favorite road is the one going to the North Shore. Not only is it the longest drive on the island with the fewest stoplights, but it takes you through glorious countryside, a part of O'ahu that is rarely seen by us "townies" today.

The depressing part of the ride is heading back to my home in 'Ewa Beach, where development has taken over the landscape. I remember as a child the long roads through 'Ewa with the endless land that once used to be sugar cane fields. Now, it just seems today that we're sacrificing the country for overdevelopment consisting of high-priced homes.

In Hawai'i, more than any other place, land is limited. It is evident that the rate of growth in Hawai'i has been rapid. But, it cannot continue. Hawai'i does not have enough land or resources to sustain this rate of development. We must work together as a state to plan and determine how much more development the state can handle to ensure that Hawai'i will still have its beautiful countryside, while continuing to prosper.

For those who have lived in Hawai'i all their lives and have rarely, if at all, traveled overseas, these islands seem particularly large. But little do we islanders realize how small our Pacific state actually is. Hawai'i is a little less than 11,000 square miles. Compared with Alaska's approximately 656,500 square miles, we're pretty tiny.

That's why land and natural resources here must be taken much more seriously than anywhere else in the country. We just don't have the room to keep expanding our cities. In 'Ewa, for example, developers continue to build million-dollar homes, adding to my already overcrowded community.

Not only does more development include more houses and buildings, but it also means that there will be more water used, more electricity generated, more roads to be built, and so on. Remember, 'Ewa does not have its own water source. The water is diverted and pumped in from the Windward side, an occurrence that has already been deemed "controversial" because of the drying out of streams in Waiahole and Waikane. The more development that occurs, the more water must be pumped over and the less there is for everybody else. In Hawai'i, water is an increasingly precious commodity.

I'm not against all development. Construction provides many jobs here in the Islands, benefiting thousands of workers. There is a need for development, but in moderation. Development is important to our economic health and stability, but it must be at a reasonable pace; we must not take our natural resources for granted.

We forget how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. The lush green mountains, the blue ocean are things we kind of just pass by in the blur that we call our lives.

All that is known as Hawai'i can be put at risk if we don't work together now to slow the pace of our "developing problem."

I want my children to live in and enjoy the Hawai'i I have always enjoyed, and this can only be possible if there is a balance between development and the beauty.

Paul Iona, who lives in 'Ewa, is a junior at Kamehameha Schools and a member of The Advertiser's Teen Editorial Board.