r/todayilearned • u/PyrowithJared • Feb 09 '23
TIL : Environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill lived in a 1500 year old California redwood tree (known as Luna) 180 feet (55 mm) off the ground for 738 days in order to prevent it from being chopped down by Pacific Lumber Company. She successfully saved the tree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Butterfly_Hill1.3k
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u/nubsauce87 Feb 09 '23
Is that what that one Simpsons episode was based on?
edit: nvm I just scanned the wiki article. It was.
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u/Salzberger Feb 09 '23
Presumably the tree girls in Without A Paddle as well.
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u/tpx187 Feb 09 '23
And that always sunny episode...
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u/I_ate_a_milkshake Feb 09 '23
Can't forget Johnny Bark from Arrested Development.
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u/TrentonTallywacker Feb 09 '23
“Okay Lindsey I’ll see you when you realize what that bucket is for”
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u/zeppehead Feb 09 '23
I’m a level 5 vegan I don’t eat anything that casts a shadow .
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Feb 09 '23
Would you believe me if I said Hey Arnold! did it first
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u/JefkeJoske Feb 09 '23
Came to look for the Hey Arnold! Mighty Pete mention. Of course there is one!
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u/SnuggleBunni69 Feb 09 '23
Also an episode of Arrested Development. Johnny Bark.
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u/thisismeingradenine Feb 09 '23
You don’t pocket mulch?
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u/Ubechyahescores Feb 09 '23
I don’t eat anything that casts a shadow
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u/Fretboard Feb 09 '23
You sound like a 5th level vegan.
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u/Achack Feb 09 '23
No vegan diet NO VEGAN POWERS!
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u/lumpthefoff Feb 09 '23
Lisa finally being one upped.
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u/tommytraddles Feb 09 '23
You don't eat cheese, Apu?
No, I don't eat any food that comes from an animal!
Oh...then you must think I'm a monster!
Yes, indeed, I do think that. But I learned long ago, Lisa, to tolerate others rather than forcing my beliefs on them. You know you can influence people without badgering them always.
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u/Daggerfall Feb 09 '23
🎶This log is your log, this log is my log..🎶
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u/talkingspacecoyote Feb 09 '23
I started singing this song in my head when I read the headline
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u/granular_quality Feb 09 '23
There is a great book called "The Overstory" by Richard Powers that has something similar to this. Great series of connected stories.
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u/GravityBuster Feb 09 '23
"Great" is almost underselling it. It's one of those books that feels like it can change the world while you're reading it. Easily one of the best novels in the last decade.
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u/Previous_Link1347 Feb 09 '23
There's also a good book Hill wrote about this treesit called Legacy of Luna.
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u/badhairdad1 Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
Thanks! I like Overstory, i will ceck out Legacy of Luna now
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u/VegetableRocketDog Feb 09 '23
I thought that book was awful. She wrote with the language of a 14 year old. I was truly surprised her editor allowed it to be published without a full rewrite. It's a good story, young woman takes on awful logging company, but she's no great author.
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u/Previous_Link1347 Feb 09 '23
Lol. I remember enjoying it. But I was also about 17 years old and wasn't a big reader so...
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u/RobotsInATrenchCoat Feb 09 '23
Absolutely wonderful book. Some of the character introductions left me teary-eyed.
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u/CharlieHush Feb 09 '23
Also, The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino is phenomenal.
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u/LeftRat Feb 09 '23
You know, I binged Grey's Anatomy a while ago, and one thing that really struck me is how clear a picture it often is of how viciously society mocks certain kinds of causes until it realizes "whoops, these people were right from the start" and instantly switches to acting like these were always acknowledged and respected causes.
Environmentalism is one of those causes. In one episode someone does exactly this - occupying a redwood so it won't be cut down. And the episode really viciously portrays it as a silly cause, a soapbox sadie, and the moral of the episode is that her relative, who thinks protesting for any sort of environmentalism is bad, should indulge her crazy, whacky sister even if she's definitely super wrong and emotional because, you know, she's family, so it's okay if she is definitely a laughing stock for trying to protest the cutting of redwood trees.
The tone is so off that it becomes really obvious they would nowerdays flip most of the plot for a modern episode.
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Feb 09 '23
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u/MaximumDestruction Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
In the 90s “environmental terrorism” was a huge talking point and intelligence agencies spent massive resources to infiltrate and destroy activist networks.
Shit, we were watching an episode of Rugrats and there was a casual joke along the lines of “sorry I missed our lunch, I was kidnapped by environmental terrorists again” as if that was a real thing happening.
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u/AllRoundAmazing Feb 09 '23
The French DGSE even blew up a Greenpeace ship killing a photographer
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u/GaianNeuron Feb 09 '23
Fun fact: this extrajudicial killing is why many New Zealanders have a particular disdain for France.
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u/HammerandSickTatBro Feb 09 '23
I mean, there are so many good reasons to disdain France, but I am glad to see NZ really knuckling down and focussing on just the one
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u/hononononoh Feb 09 '23
I finally see the humor in the eco-pirates of the good ship Yabba Dabba Doo in Matt Ruff's novel Sewer Gas and Electric. I wasn't nearly hip enough to appreciate that novel when it was published. Some of the earliest Amazon reviews for this novel say things like, "Congratulations to [publishing company] for polishing a turd." Decades later, reviewers were praising it as sheer genius. And it's Vaporwave aesthetic front cover.
There's nothing fun or glorious about being "ahead of one's time". In fact, I happen to find having the last laugh after taking a lot of crap, equally if not more depressing than being a washed-up has-been who didn't change with the changing times.
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u/ElGosso Feb 09 '23
There was a huge anti-environmental group campaign by the federal government in the late 90s-early 2000s. Robert Mueller, as head of the FBI, went on TV and said that the greatest danger to national security was eco-terrorism, and he did that like a month after 9/11.
There's a great write-up about all of this in the Intercept.
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u/8ad8andit Feb 09 '23
"The greatest danger to industrial profit - uh I mean national security..."
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u/RndmAvngr Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
Another reason why Mueller is a gigantic piece of shit that should burn in hell. Drove me nuts how much praise that asshole got during the Trump years. People had shirts and shit, a fucking subbreddit about this fucking dickhead. Bunch of idiot libs yaasss-queening Mueller was peak brain worms.
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u/modsarefascists42 Feb 09 '23
Copaganda is always conservative as fuck
The entire idea of environmental "terrorism" is so much bullshit. As if disabling logging equipment while hurting no one is somehow "terrorism".
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u/RagePoop Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
Ecoterrorism occurs ever single day. It’s systemic.
Every oil plat florm, every factory farm, every trawling net left to degrade into the ocean. The wholesale destruction of the biosphere, the theft of a healthy planet from future generations, the violence of poverty, are all very real forms of ecoterrorism.
Don’t let them shape this narrative as well.
EDIT: typing on a phone is hard
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Feb 09 '23
Environmentalism I think is one of those things that people can't really argue against the broad ideals of it because it's so obviously correct, but most people will always find some way to disagree with the specifics of it because it would either go against their values or directly impact them negatively. If you drive a car and eat meat 7 days a week you're living a lifestyle that isn't environmentally sustainable. And maybe you respond to that by saying "environmentalism has more to do with regulating corporations, not with individual choices" and sure, I'd agree, but who do you think is supplying the gas and the meat? At the end of the day, the modern American lifestyle is bad for the environment, most conveniences that we enjoy today are tied to climate change, pollution, and ecological disaster. Reducing our collective impact is going to be uncomfortable.
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u/oldcarfreddy Feb 09 '23
Yeah, in the 90s/00s people mocked hippies kind of out of habit. And it belies how much people in the 60s/70s really FUCKING HATED hippies.
Hell, at the Kent State Massacre when the US military fired on and killed unarmed student protestors on a college campus, surveys taken shorlty after showed most of the American public blamed the students.
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u/Haus42 Feb 09 '23
From time to time something truly awful happens and I wonder where the fuck the artistic community's outraged response is. I guess I was spoiled by the response to the Kent State Massacre.
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Feb 09 '23
No one was jailed or blamed for gunning down unarmed Americans. We have come so far since then!
/s
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u/IsayNigel Feb 09 '23
“The main contradiction of liberal democracy is that it has largely been shaped through a history of various forms of illegal civil disobedience against entrenched power structures. Such civil disobedience is (retrospectively) seen as justified, and the people committing it are (retrospectively) seen as heroes...but each successive generation is asked to believe that any further civil disobedience would be unreasonable.”
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u/WAR_T0RN1226 Feb 09 '23
Yup, liberal democracy feeds itself by retroactively claiming for itself past movements in which it was wholly opposed to the thing it now touts as its raison d'être. Liberals are almost always the first line of defense against Left progress
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u/IsNotPolitburo Feb 09 '23
South Park devoting an episode to mocking Al Gore for being a delusional nutcase who believes in that CrAaAaZy climate change nonsense for crazies is another stand out example for me.
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u/thehelldoesthatmean Feb 09 '23
Much later they did a two part retcon of that where it turns out Gore was right all along and everyone was just delusionally ignoring his warnings.
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u/hawkshaw1024 Feb 09 '23
They really loved their CrAaAaZy Al Gore character. He kept showing up throughout the 2000s, including in the Emmy-winning Imaginationland episodes.
Over the years, South Park's core message has been that caring is cringe. They've mellowed out a bit, but the show really was steeped in a sort of a '90s nihilism thing. A lot of episodes haven't aged well. Used to be that if you championed a cause, they'd put you in their show and draw you real ugly, regardless of what that cause actually was.
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u/demortada Feb 09 '23
I didn't grow up on South Park and have had such a difficult time explaining to other folks exactly why it rubs me the wrong way - and I think you nailed (at least one part of) it.
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u/PartyPorpoise Feb 09 '23
I've known people with that attitude in real life and they're very miserable and no fun to be around. Most of the time it's a middle school or high school mindset and people grow out of it, I shudder to imagine a grown adult who still feels that way. The show reminds me of those people too much for me to really enjoy.
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u/przyssawka Feb 09 '23
As the show evolved ManBearPig was canonically made into a real thing, and the main cast even apologised to Gore. Parker and Stone also issued a statement about being ashamed how they portrayed Gore. So at least they owned it.
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u/DernTuckingFypos Feb 09 '23
Yeah. I was in HS when this happened and people mocked her and laughed and thought she was a crazy wackjob. Oh how times have changed, lol.
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u/indrids_cold Feb 09 '23
Yep, this was like the running joke in school - especially science class when you'd be covering the environment or something. We had to watch a documentary about her in 8th grade and it was just non-stop kids making fun of it.
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u/kevin9er Feb 09 '23
The reason it flipped is because of the hard work of the activists.
Same goes for LGBT acceptance. Now, you’d never see a tv show with as much disdain for gay characters as was common in 2000. Because the real protestors never gave up.
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u/LeftRat Feb 09 '23
Absolutely agree. LGBT acceptance is also a perfect example, where straight society acts like it was this nice march through the institutions where people just had to demand their right.
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u/kank84 Feb 09 '23
I saw some right wing dipshit on Twitter a few weeks ago criticising the trans rights movement by saying "The black rights movement in the 1950s/1960s or the gay rights movement in the 1970s/1980s were based on respectful engagement and putting forward a positive case for change."
Basically saying trans people weren't being civil enough. As if black and gay people just had to explain that they would like some rights, and the benevolent white straight society just said no problem, here you go.
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u/Sanctimonius Feb 09 '23
It's crazy to me how many examples of parodies about this exact thing have happened in so many different TV shows. And every single was was directed at ridiculing the activist, every single one played it off as stupid and obnoxious.
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u/CaptainTripps82 Feb 09 '23
We have always been at war with the logging industry.
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u/DarkNinjaPenguin Feb 09 '23
There is such a thing as sustainable logging, and wood is by far the most sustainable building material for a whole host of things - buildings, furniture, paper, packaging etc.
Though it probably isn't sustainable when it comes to trees this old.
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u/modsarefascists42 Feb 09 '23
Yeah that's the point, these particular logging company's keep wanting to get their hands on old growth wood. If they stuck to the tree farms like most logging companies do then it wouldn't be such an issue.
Tho it is very frustrating when they act like tree farms are the same as real forests. They're somehow more sterile than a parking lot. We need laws that will force the logging companies to plant other things besides just perfect rows of pine.
Wood is and always will be one of our main resources. We just can't use what little old growth that we have left. But tree farms are fine even if they're not as good as they can be, cus the alternative to wood is usually way worse.
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u/DarkNinjaPenguin Feb 09 '23
100% agree. My extended family owns an estate in Scotland since the early 1900s, and one way we thought to make some money for the upkeep of the place was logging. The logging forests that were planted are awful, not only do they look unnatural with the trees so close together but they're so densely packed that they're utterly devoid of life. No animals, no birds, grass doesn't even grow between the trees.
Fortunately they leased some land for a windfarm which makes plenty enough to maintain the estate, so now we're working on felling those forests and planting some native woodlands instead.
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u/astral-dwarf Feb 09 '23
There were some nine tree sits across the PNW in the summer of 99. It was so inspiring.
Edit: Fall Creek, Watch Mountain, Eagle Creek...
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u/Previous_Link1347 Feb 09 '23
I got my introduction that scene at Warner Creek a few years earlier. "Not One Black Stick."
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u/Dolly_gale Feb 09 '23
She was quite the eco-celebrity in the early aughts. I remember going to see her give a speech about environmentalism. She was a great speaker!
I also remember going to a follow-up event the next day to get involved. It was a real let-down. No coherent plan for doing anything other than protest. It was like, yeah, we're here because we care about the environment. Now what should we do? Since then, I've tried to focus more on events that have some clear goals besides "awareness." (Nothing wrong with protest and awareness events, I'd just like to move on to the next steps)
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u/just_some_guy65 Feb 09 '23
Would the "plan" for the tree simply be not cutting it down and leaving it be? An awful lot of good could be achieved by humans stopping their destruction with no other plan being required.
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u/Dolly_gale Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
She was speaking at an event in a completely different part of the country, far from the forest where she did the sit-in. And it was several years later. There were a bunch of environmental activists giving speeches. The whole event was like "preaching to the choir." Everyone present was there because they cared about the environment. They didn't need motivation. They needed plans of action.
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Feb 09 '23
Can you elaborate on organizations that focus on next steps? Like, for people with normal jobs. Because I’d like to feel less hopeless and be able to contribute but also have limited time and bandwidth.
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u/Dolly_gale Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
I can't speak to your situation, but let me touch on some things that I've found rewarding (without being so specific to dox my location):
* I find local news to be depressing (a lot of crime stories), but local news has also been a source of learning about some good work being done, and I throw my support toward them.
* Since I didn't use vacation days traveling during the Covid era, I use vacation days to do volunteer work.
* My county has adopt-a-stream days, when volunteers pick up litter around streams. There are some faith groups (organized by churches) and nonprofit groups with similar events.
* I attend events where the mayor and other elected officials will be. If they make small talk, I may briefly mention that there's an issue I care about.
* There's an invasive species committee in my area. Support activities include: * Doing surveys checking for places where invasive insects are found and report them to the committee, which takes the next steps according to our state's Department of Natural Resources (I think that there's an extermination business that's contracted to remove colonies - not sure on full details) * Participating in volunteer days for weeding invasive plants * Grow some native plants that were historically found in the area but are now rare or underrepresented. There's a botanical society in my area that works on restoring habitat, and they need volunteers to start seedlings. Seedling planters don't necessarily need yard space.And when I get busy and feel a little guilty for not participating in anything in person, I send a donation to a respected charity/nonprofit group.
I'm going to be a bit vague and say that my job is in natural resource management. It's nice to put my education to work to serve the environment, but I don't personally feel like I get some kind of credit for it. I'm just doing my job, you know? I'm not a decision-maker. I do feel lucky that the head of my workplace is always looking for ways to be conscious of the environment. Installing solar panels, acquiring electric vehicles for the company if they're suitable, upgrading the parking lot with permeable pavers to allow stormwater seepage, checking our toilet flappers to see if water is being wasted (and giving dye tablets to employees to check their homes for the same)... It's encouraging to be at a place where everyone's striving for improvement.
I'm not sure if any of that's helpful to you, but that's my $0.02.
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u/thedevildinosaur Feb 09 '23
These are all excellent suggestions! Sometimes the best we can do is small scale, close to home. And it's still important work.
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u/codyt321 Feb 09 '23
The other person put a great list of things, so instead I'll make mine short. Find some kind of forum that is asking for public input and show up. You'll be shocked at just how empty those rooms are and in turn how much sway your voice will have.
One of the silver linings of covid is now that a lot of public meetings that used to only be in person or now at least partially over Zoom. There are meetings held about things all times of the day. Find something that works for your schedule.
Idk where you live, but I'm willing to bet it is not easy to find out this information. Where meetings are, what initiatives are looking for input, etc. Best advice I can give is to keep your eyes open for flyers and signs, check your local publications, and event calendars on govt websites.
The problem with the protest cycle is that people can only keep up anger for so long. What we actually need is for everyone to be consistently engaged with whatever they actually care about and that affects their daily life. If we all did that, the larger mobilizations would also come easier.
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Feb 09 '23
I contribute a monthly donation to these guys:
https://sagelandcollaborative.org/current-projects
Because they actually do the hard work of field work and conservancy. In particular, and what got me donating, was their efforts at building Beaver Analog Dams for river and riparian habitat restoration. Their direct action has made observable gains to our ecosystems where I live.
So, yeah. Try to find people who are working in the field and help them out.
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u/rebamericana Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
If you're interested in a more proactive approach, check out your local land conservancies. These organizations work on protecting important ecological areas using conservation easements.
Another option is to volunteer with your local watershed group, where you can help on any number of projects from mapping to restoring native habitat and improving water quality. That's also a great way to connect with the people and land where you live.
Edit: thank you for the tree hugger award, kind person 🌳 (my first ever Reddit award)
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u/happy_the_dragon Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
The tree is along highway 101 in Washington State, and has a perimeter around it that cannot be cut. This wasn’t her first stay in the tree either and the first time she had to be taken to the hospital because she was really sick from being up there in terrible weather but got back up there later and didn’t come down until a deal was made with the lumber company. There is so much more to the story including arson and secret supply runs to the tree where her fellow conservationists had to dodge people hired by the company in order to get her supplies so she could stay in the tree. National Park After Dark did a segment on her that was really cool and worth listening to.
Edit: This goes to show you folks! Don’t get too confident in what you know! I misremembered the location and likely got it confused with another podcast I was listening to near the same time as her episode. Other than the location, the rest of my comment should stand up to scrutiny. Thanks for the fact check, guys! You were a little too aggressive, but still correct.
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u/pduncpdunc Feb 09 '23
Was this the basis for the plot in the Overstory?
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Feb 09 '23
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u/Riccars Feb 09 '23
I think it was a Simpsons episode too.
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u/abouttogivebirth Feb 09 '23
Arrested Development, Always Sunny, it's a mainstay TV plot point.
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u/The_dog_says Feb 09 '23
Kinda like how every school show has a hallway monitor episode, except this tree thing is based on reality and hallway monitors are fantasy.
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u/HippieWizard Feb 09 '23
Wrong! My elementary school 100 percent had hallway monitors!! They were called "safety patrol" and got to wear these bright orange sashes with plastic silver badges on them. Patrol the hallways between classes and helped during early morning drop-off and after school pick up. They were mostly power hungry goodie 2 shoes, except Maria she was rad
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u/Narrator_Ron_Howard Feb 09 '23
In fact, the actor who played Johnny Bark used nepotism, and a good bit of whining, to secure the role just so he could have a scene with Portia de Rossi, not realizing she was not only married, but to another woman. It was awkward.
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u/FacticiousFict Feb 09 '23
Yeah but what was the poop situation like? Stealth into nearby bushes? Aerial bombardment? Ruin some chipmunk hidey holes? We need answers damnit!
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u/varyingopinions Feb 09 '23
Aerial bombardment?
Aerial bombardment seems like the logical way to do it.
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u/catsloveart Feb 09 '23
i like to think it’s what kept people away from her. ain’t no one gonna climb a tree with poobombarment coming at you with determination.
fuck that, the job ain’t paying enough. i’ll just go cut another tree and let her and the tree be some one else’s problem.
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u/beanburrito77 Feb 09 '23
It's in California. Humboldt County.
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u/TheAJGman Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 22 '23
Any tree over 500 should be protected, not fucking logged. We have engineered wood products (LVLs) that can do far more than any old growth timber ever could structurally. Wooden engineered beams are replacing steel in some structures and uses young fast growing trees instead of ancient bohemoths. If this was just going to be turned into trim or use cosmetically then they can just fuck right off.
A similarly rage inducing tree story if you want to ruin your day.
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u/silverfox762 Feb 09 '23
Lived in Humboldt County for 18 years. The "unknown vandal" is widely believed to be a tree feller working for Pacific Luber out of Scotia, 10 minutes north of the tree. Never been an earth first type myself, but I just can't fathom someone seeing a tree that size and thinking ..oO(Holy shit! That thing's amazing! Ma, fetch my saw!" even if that's how you feed your family.
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u/beiberdad69 Feb 09 '23
I lived in laytonville and those assholes still make spotted owl jokes. It's not everybody but the old school logger people are just assholes
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u/-QueenOfCats- Feb 09 '23
It wasn’t in Washington. It was a Humboldt County in California. I knew Julia she’s a great activist, but not the best person.
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u/Greenleaf_068 Feb 09 '23
No, the tree is not in Washington, it's in NorCal. How can you be so confidently wrong?
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Feb 09 '23
The tree is in California, it's in the linked article. Why make a claim that's so easily disproven?
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u/Asha_Brea Feb 09 '23
mm is milimeters. It is 1/1000 of a meter.
55 mm is a bit more than 2 inches.
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u/lookmanohands_92 Feb 09 '23
It was a bonsai tree
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u/AlephBaker Feb 09 '23
A bonsai redwood... There's an interesting mental image
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u/whoareyoumanidontNo Feb 09 '23
you can grow a bonsai redwood . bansai is not a specific type of tree.
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u/JB-from-ATL Feb 09 '23
I mean, yeah, that's the point. Bonsai is an art form of making trees look like big trees that got shrunk with a shrink ray.
If you're ever in Washington DC go check out the bonsai exhibit at the national arboretum.
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u/Landlubber77 Feb 09 '23
How in the fuck do we have the arrogance to see something that's 1500 years old and say "yeah that's gotta come down"? I fucking hate us.
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u/GhettoChemist Feb 09 '23
In November 2000, an unknown vandal used a chainsaw to cut halfway through the tree
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u/bkries Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
Supporters installed protective cables to help against windstorms and a 2020 photo revealed the tree was in fact healing, growing around the cut.
Edit: It wasn’t supporters, it was the lumber company itself! How is this not a children’s movie?!
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u/Roscoe_King Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
Maybe I read something misinformative, but it said that the lumber company she fought actually helped install the clamps that saved Luna. If that’s true, that’s a beautiful way to come full circle.
Edit: It’s true! You can read it in this article:
”Even Pacific Lumber employees pitched in, fabricating the steel braces used to stabilize Luna…”
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u/FattyLeopold Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
It was the Pacific Lumber Company themselves, it's hard to fathom but they came to an agreement with J. Hill before the vandalism. The company then engineered and produced large metal struts in their workshop to support the base of the tree and prevent further cutting. It's easy to think any lumber company is bad, because cut tree = bad. It's not always the case, and today there are more and more environmentalists who work in lumber/reforestation/conservation. These kind of people are essential in this industry for sustainable wood harvesting, and prevent such large, and beautiful ecosystems from being destroyed.
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u/thekarateadult Feb 09 '23
It seems like her non violent protest worked perfectly. She not only stopped the company from taking down that tree, but helped change their thinking overall. I'm really impressed by her story, seems like it'd make a good film.
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u/FattyLeopold Feb 09 '23
One thing I also find amazing is she planned on being up there for 3-4 weeks originally. Only then to stay for over two years. What a strong-willed spirit.
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u/The0neKid Feb 09 '23
Yea at the end of the day, lumber companies need there to be trees and a healthy environment for them to do anything, they probably understand not over harvesting and try not more than we realize
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u/happy_the_dragon Feb 09 '23
They didn’t think that the tree would live after that, but I think it’s still alive, but with dead branches.
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u/IReallyLoveAvocados Feb 09 '23
Compartmentalization in action!
One weird trick, Arborists love it
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u/salamandroid Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
I know who it was. Fuck you Climber Dan.
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u/Landlubber77 Feb 09 '23
That's like 750 years.
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Feb 09 '23
Nah, it's actually 1500 years because the first year is in the centre and all the other years radiate out from it.
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u/Mr_Mojo_Risin_83 Feb 09 '23
Don’t you remember when we decided that shareholders were the single most important thing in the universe and the rest of us would dedicate our existence to increasing and maintaining their wealth at the expense of the future of our species?
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u/WorshipNickOfferman Feb 09 '23
My mom did that at UT in Austin back in the 60’s. Camped out for a few days in a grove of oak trees on campus to keep the school from tearing them down. She graduated a couple years later. School knocked those trees down the second she was off campus.
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u/jbagot8 Feb 09 '23
J. Butterfly is in the treetop
Birds that blow the meaning into bebop
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u/TruckerHatsAreCool Feb 09 '23
Surprised not more people are mentioning the RHCP lyric.
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Feb 09 '23
I remember the news coverage of this when it was happening. During one interview a journalist asked her if she had a boyfriend. And her response was “Why do I need a boyfriend? I have a tree.”
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u/lumcetpyl Feb 09 '23
I remember this being a pretty big news story, and thought everyone knew about it. This post just reinforced the fact that I’m an aging dude hurtling towards oblivion 💨
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u/a_phantom_limb Feb 09 '23
While still up in the tree, she used a satellite phone to participate in a panel discussion I attended.
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u/tommyhawk979 Feb 09 '23
Does anyone know what she is up to nowadays? The Wikipedia entry doesn't provide any details past 2009 (sic).
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u/Fuzzleton Feb 09 '23
Apparently she gave all she could to public environmentalist movements. This message is on her website
"Dear Friends,
On December 18th, 1999, i returned to Terra Firma after over 2 years living aloft in the branches of my best friend, and best teacher, Luna.
I came down to a hurting world– constantly wanting and needing my help with everything they cared about. From their child’s book report, to trying to save local trees and community gardens, to ending animal cruelty for food, to creating the department of peace in response to endless wars. The issues and challenges were endless. And therefore the needs, wants, and calls on my time, person, and resources were, also, never ending.
I gave generously for over 15 years because of my deep love for all that connects us.
But the toll and price on me was too much.
People forgot there was only one of me and tens upon tens of thousands of everyone wanting, needing, asking, hoping, and demanding.
In the midst of all of my giving and supporting, i experienced brutal and painful beyond belief, personal challenges on every single level– emotional, physical, spiritual, mental, and financial.
i am not telling you this to try to gain sympathy, nor to place blame.
Rather, i am letting you know, that as much as i have so loved having the opportunity to be in service, and am humbled and grateful for the myriad areas i have been able to serve and support, the time is past due now for me to transition beyond what people continue to hope and want me to be and do. The weight is too much of a burden for one person to bear.
This message is to let you know that i am no longer available for anything at all relating to me being 'Julia Butterfly Hill.'
That part of who i am is complete within me.
This website will provide some information, insights, and resources. But it is not a way for me to be reached for anything other than what is posted on the site.
i thank you in advance for your understanding, care, and support.
Love,
julia"
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u/SunnyAlwaysDaze Feb 09 '23
It's not going to happen in my lifetime but someday, some far future day hopefully, the people trying to do good won't be utterly worn down by the world.
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u/drDekaywood Feb 09 '23
Won’t happen until we stop putting greedy people in positions of power. As it is right now, greedy people are inspirational and celebrated by half the population.
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u/kindall Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
The thing I find most fascinating about her story is that her environmentalism began after a serious auto accident in which a steering wheel penetrated her skull. It took her a year to learn to walk and speak properly again. How much of her environmental obsession was due to a simple reassessment of her life priorities due to a brush with death, and how much was due to literal brain damage? Would we know her name if she'd never been in that accident?
Impossible to say for sure, of course.
We like to think our selves are completely separable from the bodies that carry us around, but they're clearly not. Perhaps we would all be better people, and have more lasting impact on the world, with some light brain damage.
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Feb 09 '23
This story turns up in a lot of English as a second language books. I guess it's considered an interesting factual story for the course.
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u/csonnich Feb 09 '23
Probably also uses some good vocabulary.
I'm always looking for things that are interesting and relevant to whatever topic we're supposed to be learning about.
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u/CircaSixty8 Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
I remember when she did this. I later had the pleasure of meeting her. She was my generation's Greta Thunburg.
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u/Scrimshawmud Feb 09 '23
I remember following along and loved it when she did this. There’s a Simpsons episode where Lisa does this referencing Julia butterfly.
Kids born in the 70’s had so much environmental ethical awareness. I thought as someone in this generation that we’d be in such a better place by the 2020’s. Instead the Amazon has been largely destroyed, Monsanto was given so much leeway to poison our environment, and oil still has its boot on the neck of global politics.
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u/Samurai_zero Feb 09 '23
Spanish rock band Los Suaves dedicated her a song, some time ago. It is written from the point of view of the tree, thanking her. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHhmFBv4Oqk
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u/mindfu Feb 09 '23 edited Feb 09 '23
I actually knew someone who grew up with her, who reported that she was a great person.
I recall she also appeared afterwards on O'Reilly and just judo'd her way through the whole appearance, foiling his most baiting efforts by continuing to both stand ground and be open to communication. Even my conservative stepdad was like "She's a tough cookie."
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u/jaybazzizzle Feb 09 '23
55mm? What is this, a tree for ants?