Julia Butterfly Hill (born February 18, 1974 as Julia Lorraine Hill) is an American activist and environmentalist. Hill is best known for living in a 180-foot (55 m)-tall, roughly 1500-year-old California Redwood tree (age based on first-hand ring count of a slightly smaller neighboring ancient redwood that had been cut down) for 738 days between December 10, 1997 and December 18, 1999. Hill lived in the tree, affectionately known as "Luna," to prevent loggers of the Pacific Lumber Company from cutting it down. She is the author of the book The Legacy of Luna and co-author of One Makes the Difference.I referenced a book about trees recently, noting their importance.* The book is by an environmental reporter/writer and discusses various issues, but the core of the story is about basically a shade tree farmer who had a life threatening event that included a religious experience that lead him to tree activism. Hill also was guided by this path though with evangelistic parents, she sort of had the divine and preaching the truth in her blood:
As I recovered, I realized that my whole life had been out of balance...I had graduated high school at 16, and had been working nonstop since then, first as a waitress, then as a restaurant manager. I had been obsessed by my career, success and material things. The crash woke me up to the importance of the moment, and doing whatever I could to make a positive impact on the future.She was in her early 20s and decided to travel to find some meaning, an opportunity soon opening up to go to California with some people. There she felt a special connection to the redwoods and a need to do something to honor them. Hill has what perhaps might be called nature religion belief in the connection of all things, of life, and her spirituality plays an important role in her story. Like many, I guess, Hill ("Butterfly" a name from childhood, many in the movement taking aliases) started here not out of some special knowledge, but what she felt deep down was right.
A need to do something to help the environment and the trees in particular led her to take up a call out to stay a few days in a tree, the "Luna" of the title. The usual thing being for people to spend a few days in such trees, the time spent on a small platform that would be considered small as compared to many prison cells. She did her time but went back up, this return engagement destined to last over two years. She had communication, various visitors and early on, some guards trying to get her down, but spent much of the time alone. One thinks of some sort of crazy eccentric monk or holy person of the days of yore.
The book touches upon the important of proper management of trees, including their value for wildlife and as flood barriers, the book starting with a community destroyed as she tells it because of too much harvesting. But, the book is not by an expert or about explaining in much detail the specifics here. Overall, it is about her drive to protect the tree and environment and the special connection she had to it. It is more of a spiritual book though its narrative is as a whole one that tells an interesting story. I think it repeats itself a bit, but then from the text, it appears she was writing if as she was up there -- the end is dated a few days after she left! One review at Amazon was upset at this lack of specialized detail but she provides "further reading" and it isn't really the point of the book. She is an important symbol and spirit in the movement.
One thing that comes to mind is that she was after all performing a continual act of civil disobedience, one that cost the company in question thousands of dollars in profits. She doesn't quite see it that way: for one thing, the company broke a lot more laws than she did, with all the write-ups and did not seem to suffer much of a loss for doing so. Also, basically, Hill thought she was doing what was "right," and protection nature and nature's right to be honored. This is the mind-set of many civil disobedience movements and it boils down to a question of line drawing. Still, when elementary students act to support her by collecting stamps, what would teachers and parents tell them? What did they tell them about a woman that after all was breaking the law?
Ultimately, the tree itself along with a buffer zone was protected by an agreement set forth. The movement Earth First!, who was involved with the tree sitting though Hill did not know upfront that they were the ones behind her going up, agreed to provide the company involved the $50,000 collected. The money went to an "agreement for research into sustainable forestry." Hill herself, as one can see on her website and videos on YouTube, continued her activism and is an eloquent speaker on the importance of activism with a humanistic face. She often in the book noted her desire to keep positive, even when dealing with "the enemy." A good philosophy, even moving past the non-violence as a whole.
Overall, an eloquent book with a handful of powerful poems.
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* The author wrote an article on "Why Trees Matter":
We have underestimated the importance of trees. They are not merely pleasant sources of shade but a potentially major answer to some of our most pressing environmental problems. We take them for granted, but they are a near miracle. In a bit of natural alchemy called photosynthesis, for example, trees turn one of the seemingly most insubstantial things of all — sunlight — into food for insects, wildlife and people, and use it to create shade, beauty and wood for fuel, furniture and homes.More at link.