By Graham Ellis
Juggling Fire in the Jungle chronicles the first thirty years of Bellyacres: an unintentional community of bohemian jugglers who homestead a remote jungle oasis on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
The author, Graham Ellis, was the founder of the Village Green Society, Hawaii’s Volcano Circus and the Hawaii Sustainable Community Alliance. He also directed a renowned youth circus program that morphed into a uniquely crafted community center, hosting a school, a farmers market, performance arts workshops and shows, neighborhood events and even a church.
At its peak, over forty adults and children resided at Bellyacres and with its energy, food, economic, and organizational structure, it was described as one of the most sustainable ecovillages in the world.
Graham Ellis has been acknowledged by Hawai’i’s Governor plus state and county officials, as well as the people of Puna, for being an innovative community builder, circus ringleader, and champion of sustainabiity.
In this age of alarming climate change, cutting-edge social experiments like this — whether ‘artistic ecovillage’ or ‘anarchistic egovillage’ — offer lessons about how to survive — and even thrive — collectively. Readers who study and improve upon community developments like Bellyacres will be better prepared to create changes we all wish to see in the world.
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