Hedonisia Hawaii Sustainable Community Rainforest Retreat
Local Community Politics, Education & Activities
Hedonisia Hawaii is active on a local political level. We support eco-legislation and we are active in both the rural rainforest area of Pahoa where we are located and in the nearby town of Hilo where we support efforts to promote Hilo as an ecotourism city in Hawaii.
Eco-Rural Activism: As a local sustainable community based on ecotourism we are a board member of the Hawaii Sustainable Community Alliance. This local organization is working to change legislation in Hawaii to allow for more eco-friendly building practices and communities. For example, bamboo, a fast growing eco-friendly wood that has been used as a building material for thousands of years in Asia is illegal to use as a construction material in Hawaii.
There are many more local zoning statutes that simply defy logic. As it stands, if you want to build a legal house in tropical Hawaii you would have to import nearly 100% of your building materials even though we have perfectly good recycled and renewable materials right here.
There are over 50 farming communities in Lower Puna. Whether the community is based on yoga, meditation, vegetarianism and so on, all have a farming component. These communities provide work and shelter for many people and are some of the few entities in lower Puna paying any taxes.
Instead, of support, encouragement or any form of government assistance, the communities of Lower Puna have received zoning infraction complaints and citations. So part of our community activity is creating local awareness and lobbying the county and local government directly to allow for more eco-friendly zoning for homes and communities in Hawaii.
In addition to our work on a with the HSCA, we are building prototypes of low cost alternative eco-friendly buildings for living or communal use and we offer an Intern Program in Sustainable Community Management.
And finally, we are in the process of preparing our Special Use Permit with the County of Hawaii for our eco-friendly intentional community. Special Use Permits act as precedents and the more of them there are in Hawaii and elsewhere, the easier it will be to live in harmony with community members and the environment without running afoul of Zoning Department regulations.
To support us with our local community activities, we have a Fiscal Sponsorship agreement with a local community Non-Profit Hawaii's Volcano Circus that allows us to accept Charitable Donations under their Fiscal Sponsorship.
If you would like to assist us with our community activities please click on the link below to make your tax-deductible donation via Paypal.
We gratefully accept donations of any size! Mahalo!