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Think B.I.G. Hawaiʻi

Think B.I.G. Hawaiʻi · Resilience Toolbox

Principles of Permaculture for the Big Island

David Holmgren’s twelve design principles, read for the ground you actually stand on. Pick your climate zone, your kind of ground and your lava zone, and each principle shows what it means there, backed by University of Hawaiʻi research. Every source is a click away.

Pick your zone Go to the principles Build my guide Open the PS&F food forest planner ↗
Think B.I.G. Hawaiʻi
Click a slope to choose your zone
Not to scale: heights are stretched about 7× so the slopes read. Kona (west) is on the left, Hilo and Puna (east) on the right.

Step 1

Where are you growing?

Climate zone
Your ground
1
9

Step 2

Three ethics, twelve principles

Permaculture rests on three ethics. The twelve principles are tools for living by them. Holmgren set them out in Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability (2002), and each one comes with an old proverb as a memory hook.

Earth care. Look after soil, water, forest and reef, the ʻāina that keeps everything else alive.
People care. Look after yourself, your ʻohana and your neighbors.
Fair share. Set limits on what you take, and pass on the surplus.

On the Big Island these ethics aren’t new. The ahupuaʻa ran from mountain to sea and gave a community the range of resources it needed. Konohiki managed those resources, and families worked the land together.

Step 3

The twelve principles, read for your ground

Step 4

Your tailored permaculture guide

Answer a few questions about your place and your household. The guide uses your zone, ground and lava zone from Step 1, then lays out a site plan, a phased plan, a planting list, a water budget and a checklist with one action for each principle. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Sources

The principle names and proverbs are David Holmgren’s, from permacultureprinciples.com. The explanations are written for this page. Click any small number in the text to open its source.