American environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill spent 738 days inside Luna, a massive 1500-year-old redwood tree, protesting the Pacific Lumber company’s logging practices.
From December 10, 1997, until December 1999, she resided in the tree. Her revolutionary activity came to an end when Pacific Lumber Company agreed to spare the tree and a 200-foot buffer zone around it.
Her protest, which set world records for tree sitting, aimed to stop deforestation, highlight PL’s environmental neglect, and inform the public about the importance of woods in stabilizing hillsides.
When she was 23 years old, Julia scaled the enormous redwood tree after deciding to take part in a “tree sit” protest while visiting an eco-friendly event.
She wasn’t a trained activist and didn’t have any lofty objectives; she was just someone who couldn’t believe that somebody would cut down a redwood that had been standing for up to 2000 years with a chainsaw.
She also claims that, had she not accomplished the accomplishment, she would not have believed it was possible for her to pull it off.
Julia realized her life had been out of balance in her early twenties after suffering a catastrophic vehicle accident and going through a recuperation phase.
“My work, success, and material possessions had become my obsession. The accident made me realize how important the present was and how important it was to do everything I could to change the course of history.
When Julia traveled to the west, she joined a group of “tree sitters” on the northern California coast who were opposing the Pacific Lumber Company’s clear-cut harvesting of redwoods. They were there to raise money for the preservation of an old growth forest.
She visited an old growth forest after finding out that only 3% of the once-abundant redwood ecosystem remained and was astounded by the intelligence, vitality, and spirituality of the redwoods. She had the desire to change things.
Being an introvert and a lover of the outdoors, Julia believed she could easily spend a week or two living in a tree.
“Earth First! required someone to stay in a redwood tree so that the loggers couldn’t cut it down, and because no one else offered, they had to choose me. They were doing tree-sits to draw attention to the urgent need to safeguard old trees. I put on the harness and ascended Luna, 180 feet up, on December 10, 1997. I anticipated spending three to four weeks in the tree, but it ended up being two years and eight days. I didn’t go back to the ground until the corporation promised to safeguard Luna and the neighborhood’s grove.
In the vast canopy of the tree, Julia has spent more than two years on two 6 × 6 foot platforms. She used a solar-powered phone to grab the attention of the global media. Volunteers climbed the mountain 2 1/2 kilometres to give food and supplies. In addition to being threatened by loggers who were chopping trees nearby and tormented by helicopters, Julia had to suffer one of the worst El Nino storms. She was even threatened with death. The most of the time, she was chilly and damp, and occasionally, the “discomfort and fear left her sobbing in the fetal position.”
“I knew it would always come down to one side vs the other if I continued to argue politics and science and stayed in the mind rather than the heart and the spirit. But aside from that, everyone can agree that respect, dignity, and compassion are concepts that can only go so far.
But how could I persuade the loggers to extend their potential affections for a human to the forest? And how could I persuade them to shed their preconceived notions of me? Because in their eyes, I was an environmentalist hippie with dreadlocks who hugged trees and ate granola.
She claimed that the tree’s wisdom gave her strength. There’s no denying the strength of the friendship that formed between Julia and Luna. Loved the tree, she
She had just intended to spend one week in the redwood. She was lifted onto a wooden plank and into the branches with assistance from the rest of the Earth First! team. She had packed food and water with her.
After the week was over, everyone anticipated Julia would go back to the forest floor. However, the reality was different. After seven days, Julia made the decision to scale the entire tree and erect a temporary shelter there.
Nobody, not even her Earth First! buddies, knew what she was thinking when she set up camp atop the redwood.
However, Julia just cared that as long as she was in the tree, logging in that region would stop.
Weeks became months, and Julia continued to reside atop the tree she had given the name “Luna.” She claimed that while there, she discovered a lot about herself, with one of the main lessons being how to live independently.
Julia withstood frigid weather, snowstorms, and torrential rains that tore at her plywood perch. She occasionally doubted that she would survive, but in the end, she was able to overcome everything that nature could muster.
Julia took a Zen-like approach to her entire protest and gained a new perspective on life and people: those who choose to bend with the wind are always better off than those who stand rigidly and run the risk of breaking.
Julia finally left her home atop Luna after 738 days and returned to civilisation with a wonderful new perspective on life. She was undoubtedly a different person.
The demonstration Julia staged was a major victory for environmental movement in general. After leaving the redwood, she lectured about the value of social and environmental advocacy throughout the world. Her two years on the tree are documented in her book, The Legacy of Luna.
