Julia Butterfly Hill is best known as the young woman who sat high in a redwood tree she called Luna for over two years in the late 1990s in order to protest logging in Northern California's last remaining old-growth forests.
The wonderful environmental writer Jane Kay published an interview with Julia on sfgate.com today that reminded me of the many reasons she will always be one of the most inspirational people I've ever had the pleasure to work with.
First, if you are given to dismissing every tree-hugger as an out-of-touch, middle-class narcissist, you need to get to know a bit more about Julia Hill. You need to know that even the loggers who at first despised and resented her for threatening their careers came to deeply respect and even protect her -- and Luna -- from harm.
Knowing her ability to convert hostility into love, it is no surprise to me that she has become a world famous speaker and environmental activist, who inspires many others to action on behalf of our dwindling common resources both by her example and by her words.
Yet, at the same time, inside this lovely, dynamic woman, is -- as she herself told Jane Kay -- a loner, an "introvert."
I served as an adviser to Julia and one of her organizations early in this decade, and over the course of several retreats, got to know her well enough to recognize a common lost soul, searching for meaning in a world often uncommonly harsh, wasteful, and short-sighted.
Despite her fame and prominence, Julia walks lighter on the earth than anyone I know, or have ever known, at least in the developed world. Her personal carbon footprint is tiny; she brings her own plates and utensils with her to restaurants, for example, she doesn't own a car, and she wastes precious few resources of any kind.
There's also an elusive spirit to her that her chosen middle name, Butterfly, captures perfectly. I wonder whether anyone can honestly claim to know her on the deepest, most intimate of levels. I tend to doubt it.
Partly due to this reason, she is a great writer. I've commended her memoir of her 738 days in the tree to all of the students taking my writing courses over recent years, and it remains the perfect book to use to introduce new generations to the importance of taking a personal stand in defense of the global ecology that ultimately sustains all life.
For these and many other reasons, I dedicate this Earth Day to my elusive friend and enduring hero, Julia Butterfly Hill. My own world feels warmer, knowing that she is out there fighting on behalf of all of us -- even when that means that she is in fact all alone somewhere, very, very quiet, seeking nothing but a respite from the noise surrounding her.
Much like a butterfly.
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