For 18 hours, the winds howled and the rain pelted down. Julia Butterfly Hill held onto her tree for dear life. Ninety-mile-per-hour winds tipped the six-by-eight-foot wooden platform on which she lived in the giant redwood tree. One gust actually blew her three feet off the platform. She managed to grab branches and hold on until she could make her way back. Julia said she learned from this storm that in order to survive, you have to quit fighting, bend with the wind, and go with the flow.
You’re probably wondering why Hill was living in a tree. A year earlier, she had been critically injured in a car crash. It took her nearly a year to recover, and she used that time to consider what she believed was important in life. She took a trip west to try to decide what to do with her life.
Hill tells about her first sight of the ancient redwoods: “When I entered the majestic cathedral of the redwood forest for the first time, my spirit knew it had found what it was searching for. I dropped to my knees and began to cry because I was so overwhelmed by the wisdom, energy, and spirituality housed in this holiest of temples.”
Hill had been horrified by the clear-cutting of redwoods in California. She was devastated when she saw her first redwoods being cut. She says, “I sobbed, screamed, raged, and cried because it hurt so. It was very painful.” When she learned that only 3 percent of the giant redwoods remained, she decided to take action.
Hill and many others had tried to inform the American people of the problem. No one paid much attention. So when she heard that a group was looking for someone who would spend some time sitting in the giant redwood tree known as Luna, Julia volunteered.
On December 10, 1997, when Hill was 23 years old, she climbed high into Luna. She later said, “I gave my word to this tree and to all the people that my feet would not touch the ground until I had done everything in my power to make the world aware of this problem and to stop the destruction.” She was there for a little over two years.
All around her, the Pacific Lumber Company was cutting trees. Hill said, “You hear the incessant buzzing of the chain saws hour after hour until your ears are ringing, and then you hear the creaking, the groaning as it’s about to fall and then it sounds like thunder as it crashes through all the trees it has to hit on the way down and then it’s a loud BWAAM-BOOM! You can feel the earth trembling all the way up through Luna.”
The lumber company had posted security guards at the base of the tree. At first they blew bugles and air horns at night to keep her from sleeping and called her names and cussed at her. They also tried to keep her from getting supplies.
Hill’s home for two years was that six-by-eight-foot wooden platform. Her walls and roof were made out of tarps. She had a single-burner camp stove to cook on and a cell phone to stay in touch with other environmental workers. Solar panels placed in the tree powered the phone.
Her friends used a rope to send up supplies, including food, mail, and propane for the stove. For a bathroom, she used a bucket, then put the waste in a plastic bag and lowered it to the ground. Her friends took it away and disposed of it properly.
For exercise, Hill climbed around in the tree and walked around the platform. She collected rainwater in the tarps to use for cooking, bathing, and drinking.
Finally, on December 18, 1999, Hill received good news. The Pacific Lumber Company had agreed never to cut down Luna. They also agreed that they would not log any other trees in a three-acre area around it. So Hill ended her two-year tree sit. She and other environmentalists had raised $50,000, which they gave to the logging company to be used for research on sustainable forestry.
Julia Butterfly Hill received several awards for her bravery and determination. She continues to work to save the forests, including rainforests in South and Central America.