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Julia
‘Butterfly’ Hill inspires enthusiastic WNC audience By Thomas Crowe In a world scarce of heroes, when one finally does appear it’s like a lightning bolt to the body and mind. All synapses are firing. One feels truly alive in the presence of such a person. Julia Butterfly Hill is a hero to thousands of people across this country and around the world. In what was a brilliant example of community organizing, Active Students for a Healthy Environment staged a speaking engagement at UNC-Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium on Feb. 27 for Hill. The event drew close to a thousand people and a dozen environmental activist organizations to the large 600-seat venue. With people of all ages taking up every available space in the auditorium and with a lobby full of people straining to hear her, Hill’s stop at UNC-A was an “event.” Exuding confidence, humor, humility, a full range of emotions, and valuable information, she spoke to a crowd whose rapt attention hung on her every word. Rarely, if ever, in recent years, have I been part of anything quite this dynamic coming from a single body on an empty stage. Hill is the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Ecology Hall of Fame. Her fame came as a result of literally living for two years in a 200-foot, 1,000-year-old redwood tree in a Humboldt County forest in northern California as a means of protecting it and the surrounding redwood forest from being logged by the Pacific Lumber Company. Her tree-sit vigil began in 1997 when she was only 23 years old. When she came down from the tree named “Luna” in December of 1999 — 738 days later — she came down as the highest-profile celebrity and spokesperson in the entire environmental movement, having attracted world-wide attention for her Gandhi-like non-violent act in defense of the giant redwood forest. Hill kept her overflow audience enraptured as she told her saga of the years spent atop the ancient redwood tree — which included continuous acts of terrorism by the local logging company and its henchmen against her action in behalf of some of the last remaining old growth redwoods on the West Coast. Interrupted often by her own tears, she detailed the attacks on her by both members of the Humboldt County logging community as well as the natural elements. “My two years living up in Luna, were the two worst winters, weather-wise, in the history of California,” she said with an ironic smile. “And on top of that, I survived two and a half weeks of napalm, logging company blockades depriving me of food and supplies, and trees being cut down that fell onto and against my tree. All this was done in attempts to wrest me from my roost. But they didn’t know who they were dealing with. All these attacks only made me more determined to continue!” When asked by an audience member what she did all day, every day, up there in the tree, Hill detailed how she spent time collecting water from the rains and dew from the pine needles. “But most of my time,” she said, devilishly, “was spent on the telephone. Six to eight hours a day on the telephone speaking to members of the media, environmental organizations, governmental organizations, the logging company — all in an effort to respond to the overwhelming number of incoming calls, and as well to promote our action to protect these trees from being clear-cut.” In the end, Julia Butterfly Hill came down from her tree victorious, having cut a deal with Pacific Lumber and its parent company, the Maxxam Corp., that would not only protect Luna, but would also protect for posterity a 200-foot buffer zone including other redwoods. “I asked God to use me as a vessel,” she told reporters upon setting foot on solid ground for the first time in over two years and sounding a little like one of her own role models: Martin Luther King Jr. “So, I guess you have to be careful what you ask for. My hope is that people can learn from my experience — to feel their connection to the magnificence of creation.” She then followed this statement up with something akin to the well-known speech given by the great Nez Pierce Chief Joseph. “No one should have to live in a tree for two years just so it will be protected. In the end, this whole thing was about economics, but how can anyone place a price on a tree like Luna?” Three years after descending from her giant redwood tree as a modern-day Henry David Thoreau, Hill is a tireless crusader for cultural, political and environmental causes of all kinds, criss-crossing the continent on an almost daily basis for speaking engagements, protest actions, educational seminars, environmental conferences, fun-raisers, benefits, and other such activities. In February she traveled from Berkeley, Calif., to Asheville, making 13 stops in six different states. In March, she will travel from Talahassee, Fla., to Victoria, British Columbia, continuing her never-ending tour in behalf of the environment. Hill is also one of the founding members of the Circle of Life Foundation. The Circle of Life Foundation is an education and outreach project of the Earth Island Institute that was created to inspire, support and network individuals, organizations, and communities to create environmental and social solutions for the problems facing humanity and the planet. The Asheville audience responded to her courage, commitment, and amazing clarity in articulating a message of hope, empowerment, and love and respect for all life, with quiet attention and respect as well as with frequent applause and spontaneous cheers of profound approval. In her two-and-a-half-hour talk, Hill responded to questions from the audience on a variety of subjects, including the issue of globalization vs. local economy, with convincing and sure-footed articulation. “Believe it or not, before my tree-sit, I was a business major in college and worked training businesses how to make more money from the money they already had. So, this business of business isn’t at all foreign to me. You know that the word ‘economy’ comes from the Latin root ‘ecos’ — meaning ‘house and home.’ If you extend that metaphor, economics should, ideally, be focused on the idea of sustainability, rooted in the protection of the planet. Further, no economy, it seems to me, is going to last without a healthy eco-system or environment to support it. That being the case, we all should be supporting businesses that are eco-conscious. And where businesses are not eco-conscious, we need to be working to change that. Shift the structure of businesses that operate, entirely, from a capitalist perspective. In the end, it’s all about sustainability, and we should all be working to create solutions that work for everybody, not just the few at the top. “Before my two years living in the branches of Luna, I had a near-death experience. During the recovery from that accident, I became aware that there was more to life than money. I thought a lot about this and the direction my life was going, and came to the realization that consumerism is nothing less, essentially, than a crime against humanity! And it is certainly a crime against nature. What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves. In the end, economy can’t come at the expense of ecology. Our education systems and business communities need to be creating business majors and executives with heart and spirit!” On the subject of Sept. 11 and patriotism, Hill was very direct and succinct. “I had an epiphany, a religious experience, on my first trip to the redwoods in northern California. During that trip I experienced that God (the divine) was, in fact, in nature. True patriotism means supporting the health of people and the planet. People who live in this manner are true patriots. If we become disconnected with the place we live in, we are already beginning to destroy it. “I believe that it is our responsibility to enact civil disobedience where it is warranted. Our inactions are just as much a part of injustice or crimes against nature as are the direct actions of those who perpetrate such crimes. If you’re not angry at all the injustices in the world, then you are not awake! We need to speak out — but with compassion and love. In this sense, we, all of us, have to work at creating a community-supported media, so that people will be truly informed about things, not having to rely on non-objective corporate-sponsored/owned media. We have to, literally, become the Media!” When asked about non-violent activism, Hill said, “During my years spent up in Luna, I became aware of the sacredness of all life. I saw the divinity in everything, and that everything is sacred. My life, now, is dedicated to ‘spiritual activism’ — where every moment is an act of awareness. We must, everyone, begin focusing on doing the ‘right thing,’ doing things because it is the right thing to do. During my tree-sit, I experienced a lot of pain. And out of that pain, I learned that it hurts to care. But we must all find the courage to care. The word ‘care’ comes from ‘cour,’ meaning ‘heart’ — which is also the root of the word ‘courage.’ Our activism must, in the end, come from the heart if we are going to make any kind of lasting difference. The word ‘radical’ means ‘going back to roots.’ Everything begins and ends with the natural environment.” When one of the members of the audience asked her what we can do in our everyday lives to help make a difference, Hill said that is, perhaps, when we can make the most difference. “Our daily life has the largest impact on the planet. This is where the real work begins. Raising our children to have compassion, supporting that which is local — community gardens, farmers markets, small businesses, recycling ... And, we need to stretch the boundaries of our comfortability. Start doing things to make the world a better place. Become active. Become, all of us, leaders. “We live in a culture where that which is sacred is disposable. Is this what we want? We’re going to have to be the ones to change this! We need, first-off, to get rid of agri-business. Our small farmers need to be protected. We need to think more about what and how we eat — the health and economics of that. Did you know that 12 people can live off the grain produced to feed one animal! Think about this! We can’t continue letting the corporations sell off the planet to the highest bidder. We need to put our bodies where our beliefs are. This all needs to be done with love, compassion — from people who truly care. I love the line from the poet Rumi, where he says: ‘Let this beauty we love be what we do’ making an action-verb of beauty while inciting us to action.” After hearing all this, what was my impression of Julia Butterfly Hill’s descent into Asheville? I have to say, in all honesty, that this woman is a natural. Not a natural as in ‘nature-freak,’ or ‘granola-eating tree-hugger, hippie, new-ager,’ but a natural-born leader. A humble and compassionate example. One who walks the walk. An eloquent spokesperson for issues of environmental and social justice, to be sure, but more than that. Hill is someone who transmits a kind of caring that transcends faddish dogma or politically correct rationalizations. (In fact, she had the audience weeping on and off throughout the evening of her Asheville visit). Someone who incites loyalty and love in her followers. And, perhaps more importantly, someone who moves others to action. She convinces. She embraces. She inspires. I came away from last Wednesday’s event feeling hopeful for the future — for maybe the first time in 20 years. Hopeful knowing that there is, indeed, a new, younger generation that is informed, organized and passionate about working for the causes that will make the world a healthier, better place for their children and their children’s children. These young people were there, packed into Lipinsky Auditorium en masse. There are precious few walking among us these days like Julia Butterfly Hill — heroes of advanced consciousness. As a member of this particular “endangered species,” may she have a long and prosperous life. May her piper’s song reach the ears of many — inspiring them to take on what poet Gary Snyder calls “the real work” that will aide in turning the current nightmares of the world into more enlightened dreams.
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