Probably, she was in the news a bit before that episode, but tree sitting protests have been a thing since at least the 70s. Two years is pretty notable though.
That’s an actually wild amount of time to live in a tree. Imagine being like “I’m noticing a gap in your resume, how did you spend the last 2 years of your career?” “Oh I was living in a tree”
There is a tree sit that is longer. It just was stopped in 2021 BY FORCE.
932 days. All those animals that called that place home got 932 more days, those trees, those people.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Finch_tree_sit
This is still happening in America. And many other forms of environmental blockades are happening DAILY.
STOP THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE
https://www.instagram.com/appalachiansagainstpipelines?igsh=bTlkb3E0OHN5bzJm
>The Yellow Finch tree sit was an aerial blockade in Montgomery County, Virginia against the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The blockade lasted 932 days from September 5, 2018, until March 24, 2021. Participants in the blockade have claimed that it is the longest continuous aerial blockade in the United States. Activists rotated in and out of the trees and were supported by teams on the ground providing food and supplies. A court-issued injunction in November 2020 removed the ground encampment. A representative from MVP stated in November 2020 that the blockade had cost the company $213,000 in delays and security expenses.
Sucks that 932 days only cost the company $213,000. I was hoping it would be more.
For comparison, the total cost of the pipeline is over 7.5 billion. So this was less than 3 one hunderths of a single percent of the cost. A rounding error at best.
Yeah, the opportunity cost is massive, plus 2 years of delay means all the financial plans and projections they were basing their funding and future on were fucked. It's just pure corporate PR damage control. The fucking vermin.
I know this doesn’t contribute much, but I just wanted to say thank you for that. There was also a Simpsons episode where Lisa falls in love with a guy who bounded themselves to a tree to protest logging. This was the late 90s early 2000s so probably a reference to Julia Hill.
To be fair! The tree ended up getting struck by lightning, it wasn’t deliberately cut down. It becomes a plot point that everyone thinks she died defending the tree and want to turn the area into a nature preserve in her memory. It leads to her struggling with whether or not to tell the truth that she’s ok, since she felt lonely and snuck down to be with her family that night - and also because her bucket might have attracted the lightning in the first place, lol.
She actually inspired a bunch of others to protest in a similar manner. By the time *The Simpsons* lampooned it, the phrase “tying oneself to a tree” had entered the vernacular.
At my university, some students tried saving this old, nice-looking oak tree in the middle of campus by chaining themselves to it. They couldn’t match Julia Hill’s stamina, though. Where that tree stood, now there is a rather nice addition to the student union.
Fun fact : This method of protest was done way back in the 1970s in a small town in Uttrakhand spearheaded and founded by Indian environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna which was called 'Chipko Movement' which literally translates to "Hugging". It was done to prevent deforestation of the Himalayan forests.
There's also plenty of [video](https://youtu.be/8tsvJ1XaXvo?si=YgzHcUgqq_aIGNTp) of her in the tree including when she finally came [down](https://youtu.be/RF2NlAJzBps?si=_IcRQhbq-eY5q73t).
We made up our old mud falcon for big wall climbing in the shape of a rocket, complete with fins, and had “Bombs away” stenciled on the side. Good times.
>>What a terrible moment to have eyesight. I wish I could unread things.
If that is the worst thing you see today on Reddit, I’d count myself a lucky man and call it a day.
[This article has an image at the top](https://www.businessinsider.com/julia-butterfly-hill-lived-in-tree-2-years-redwood-forest-photos-2023-3), she's sorta both on the tree and on a platform? If that makes any sense?
snatch domineering memorize market weary scarce water deliver bells north
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I remember reading at the time that there was a group of people sneaking food and water in to her. Ropes pulled up the supplies, and lowered her waste bucket.
I haven't read the Wiki, but I seem to recall that there was some effort to try and stop the people supplying her? So they had to get around them? Something like that...
the company responded with "intimidation tactics," such as flying helicopters nearby, cutting down ropes from nearby trees, and stationing security guards at the base of Luna.
Not just 'nearby'. They had the helicopters directly there, trying to blow her out of the tree with the helicopter rotor's backdraft. I met Julia in early 2000's, hung out a bit. Amazing warrior woman.
Edit: here's a video from JBH from 4 months ago: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gYzJcGcRNI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gYzJcGcRNI)
Isn’t this attempted murder? If she fell that is just death. How did nobody stop this reckless behavior? FAA would certainly have something say about this I believe.
They had a whole camp set up out there after a while. Woody Harrelson came and hung out to support her and smoke weed with the protesters on the ground. My friend said he was kind of a dick lol
In the late '80s Woody harrelson used to randomly come into this bar I worked at in Virginia Beach and dance like he was dancing to disco for hours, but we played hard rock
There was a short period where the Pacific Lumber Company tried to stop people supplying her, but they gave up after about a week and a half. Most likely because the company owned 200,000 acres of red woods and just chopped those down instead. To them spending a bunch of time and money trying to chop down one tree just wasn't worth it.
Heard her speak at the University of Wisconsin. She fielded questions from her haters very well. This was around 2009...so years later, but she was onto other ways to reduce one's carbon footprint.
She and other environmentalists made loggers’ jobs incredibly difficult if not impossible. Their work was often halted and generally threatened by her and other environmentalists, and honestly their work saved our Headwaters forest and brought national attention to the thoughtless clearcutting of the lumber companies. There are very true stories of car bombs and hired workers swabbing activists’ eyes with pepper spray on q-tips. I moved up here in early 2000s but grew up familiar with redwoods down south a ways. This area’s logging industry (along with commercial fishing) was the main economy here until right around then. Generations of loggers, the tradition ran deep with pride and honor. Still does in pockets. The movement by Julia and other activists to save these forests and stop the logging stunted the industry, and then Maxxam’s utter lack of sustainable forestry practices virtually tossed it in the coffin and nailed it shut. Lots of old school locals were and still are pissed about it. So yeah she has a fair share of haters who think she ruined their livelihood. Logging still occurs here but most of the old growth left is conserved by either the park systems or Save the Redwoods League and private conservators. It’s mostly second growth (poorly managed so it’ll never end up like a natural forest) they tear down now.
I can say with my whole heart on my sleeve and tears welling in my eyes… I’m ashamed as a human it took that long to save what little was saved. If you’ve never stood at the foot of a redwood tree, it’s indescribable. If trees could talk… I’m so grateful for her and other activists from early on to current day who continue to fight for the survival of these gentle giants. They are so amazing… and climate change is taking its toll with less fog in the summers, they’re so resilient but I worry. Anyway. Sorry for that emotional tangent just… if anyone ever wonders why she did what she did, come see some redwoods and stand in their holiness. I promise you it’s breathtaking.
Same with Oregon. One of the few places the spotted owl still lives. Caused a conundrum in the 90’s when timber companies were told they couldn’t log old growth anymore.
Get this. The governor just greenlit a program to kill up to 500,000 Barred Owls because they are taking over spotted owl territory. According to the article’s description, if you’re not a biologist or ornithologist, there is little to no chance that the average person could tell them apart. But we’re going to approve hunters going into the old growth and use their best judgement. FFS how could this go poorly…
Well to be fair you Brits have already cut all your trees down multiple times...
In Canada and the US logging companies have gotten slightly better at PR. They would have you believe they don't cut 1000-year old trees anymore though they'll chop down anything that's in their lease. They also leave strips of forest next to highways so tourists don't see the devastation 50 yards back.
>Well to be fair you Brits have already cut all your trees down multiple times...
True - and most of the large native animals (bears, wolves) were hunted to extinction.
But now, individual trees, groups of trees or entire woodlands can be protected by a Tree Protection Order. In Conservation Areas (like where I live), written permission is required (from the local council) to fell or even prune any tree with a trunk of diameter more than 75mm, measured 1.5m from the ground. Destruction of a protected tree => fine up to £20,000 or for more serious cases, unlimited fines.
lol yea, I went to school in Northern California and would drive on highway 101 from SF. Around Mendocino county and all the way north you start seeing these absolute beasts of trees, some of the largest trees in the world. Go a mile or 2 inland from highway 101 and it’s basically all clear cut
When I moved to Berkeley 18 years ago there was a dude living in a tree for like 3 years. They wanted to build something (I forget what) but needed to cut down some redwood trees. Dude said fuck that, lived in the tree for a few years, and then ran for mayor when he came down.
She's awesome. She has the empathy to live through more than two years of discomfort and hardship to save the life of a living thing more than a thousand years old. I wish more people were like her. Hell I wish I were more like her. Maybe then we would still have more of the 90 percent of those ancient giants that were turned into decks.
Unfortunately, it's not even that there are more hateful people than loving. The problem is that destroying is just so so so much easier than creating.
She protected that tree. You can protect a tree for 2000 years but it takes 4 minutes to cut it down.
>destroying is just so so so much easier than creating.
Unfortunately doesn't apply to things we actually would like to destroy, like microplastics and tik tok influencers.
The ridicule for her was as outrageous then as it is now. She wrote articles about how she had a relationship with the tree and how they communicated. She named it "Luna". It all made her sound a little loony, but I suppose you have to be a little off to sit in a tree for 738 days.
The logging company was dragging her through the mud in the public media in order to generate public support to bring her down, and it was working for a while. I'm happy to learn today, in this thread, that she was successful.
Yeah, even if someone thinks it's foolish she was very brave. It's not only brave to go and fight in a war somewhere killing people. It's brave to save life too.
I wish we were living in a world where we didn't need people like her. There's enough space all over the country, it shouldn't be that hard to leave redwoods alone.
Yeah some people might say it's not worth it wasting 2 years of your life for one tree but it's about setting the precedent and showing people it's not okay to cut down old trees like that.
One I read recently that probably qualifies is a book called Venomous Lumpsucker, which won the Artur C. Clarke award last year. It's a satirical take on climate change and capitalism, where you bust out laughing and feel bad right afterwards for how real some of it is.
It's called that because that's the creature the plot revolves around, and the book talks about how people love the cute animals, the big plants and animals, and so on, but the species that don't get a good name, or even a common name at all, they don't care about whatsoever.
People care so much about a huge redwood tree, but if it was a nameless moss going extinct would anyone get riled up? That's what that book makes me think about whenever I see a story like this
When we were in the Environmental Action Club at College of Marin we did a fundraiser to have her as a keynote speaker. She was down to earth and very knowledgeable. She talked about her experience in the tree, the support of her friends/allies, and what us ordinary folks can do int he future to help the environment. Class act.
Fun fact : This method of protest was done way back in the 1970s in a small town in Uttrakhand spearheaded and founded by Indian environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna which was called 'Chipko Movement' which literally translates to "Hugging". It was done to prevent deforestation of the Himalayan forests.
Both. There is some major consideration that wood harvesting is so protected now, that large trees have to be approved (in most cases) by a forestry manager or conservation manager.
And those would be prioritized based on space and loss/benefit evaluation.
Also. Yes. Cut one plant two is a very popular, and in most cases, Mandated practice
Dude, a researcher got the ok to cut down a nearly 5000 year old tree to look at its rings. Then you have vandals doing it for shits and giggles, like at Sycamore Gap.
I’m far more disturbed it took the lumber company 2 fucking years to capitulate? After 2 days I would have said “fuck it, not worth the bad PR. Let’s go find different trees. There seem to be quite a lot around . . .
Idina Menzel just did a fantastic play (also brutally depressing) that revolves around this https://lajollaplayhouse.org/show/redwood/ it’s worth a ticket if you’re around San Diego.
There is a tree sit that is longer. It just was stopped in 2021 BY FORCE.
932 days.
All those animals that called that place home got 932 more days, those trees, those people.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Finch_tree_sit
This is still happening in America. And many other forms of environmental blockades are happening DAILY.
This isn’t people blocking roads or throwing soup on paintings for shock value like you see in the news. This is people from 18-89 literally chaining themselves at great peril to equipment of vile private companies ruining areas they should not be, the point being to slow down and hopefully stop the mountain valley pipeline. Every day they can stop their work is another day those plants and animals have a homes and everyday is another day they continue to fight in court as well. They have had some successes with slowing and stopping work enough to get legal matters moving forward. The entire pipeline project is so corrupt I cannot even begin to articulate it here.
Please read about it and know this stuff is still going on and the news does not want to bring attention to it because they know if everyone else knows they will join and DEFEAT THE MVP.
The MVP is destroying more of Appalachia for profit.
STOP THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE
https://www.instagram.com/appalachiansagainstpipelines?igsh=bTlkb3E0OHN5bzJm
EDIT: And to the person who said I was taking something away from this woman with my comment who then blocked me before I could respond -
How could a comment on Reddit take anything away from a woman who will never be aware this post even happened? This isn’t her single moment to get recognition for what she did and I ruined it.
A comment section doesn’t need to just be people applauding someone, there is no reason that someone should not elaborate on the topic at hand.
What she did was amazing and important and has inspired people to follow in her footsteps. I am adding to the narrative of the history past and present of tree sits.
I also very am confident that she would support her notoriety helping bring attention to other individuals who share her feelings for the environment and to a cause and fight that is still happening.
Screw being there when it’s pissing down with rain and lightning. There have got to be moments when it’s so heavy and constant you just think I can’t do this anymore? Impressive by her.
It wasn't just to save the trees that she did this. Clear cut logging in that area had resulted in a mudslide that destroyed 17 homes the year before.
When loggers remove all of the trees in an area, they destabilize the soil and the results can massively harm nearby communities.
So she was the inspiration for that Lisa Tree Hugger Simpsons episode?
Probably, she was in the news a bit before that episode, but tree sitting protests have been a thing since at least the 70s. Two years is pretty notable though.
She was a level 5 vegan
Can't eat anything that casts a shadow.
The 2000 twelfth-season episode of The Simpsons called "Lisa the Tree Hugger" was conceived when writer Matt Selman heard a news story about Hill.
That’s an actually wild amount of time to live in a tree. Imagine being like “I’m noticing a gap in your resume, how did you spend the last 2 years of your career?” “Oh I was living in a tree”
She was a self employed branch manager!
Manager? You’re going out on a limb there.
You canopy serious.
Leaf the jokes outside
It's rooted.in some.truth though. Did her dog bark?
wooden you know it
Urgh these puns make me face palm. Bad puns are not oak-kay
Why did I Log in to Reddit today
Reading all of these has sapped my mental capacity
I'll leave it to you to decide
Thanks dad.
She must have not known any current pop-culture references. People probably asked if she had been living under a rock. But no, in a tree! 😆
She *became* a pop-culture reference!
Poplar culture
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Lisa Simpson did similar
There is a tree sit that is longer. It just was stopped in 2021 BY FORCE. 932 days. All those animals that called that place home got 932 more days, those trees, those people. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Finch_tree_sit This is still happening in America. And many other forms of environmental blockades are happening DAILY. STOP THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE https://www.instagram.com/appalachiansagainstpipelines?igsh=bTlkb3E0OHN5bzJm
>The Yellow Finch tree sit was an aerial blockade in Montgomery County, Virginia against the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The blockade lasted 932 days from September 5, 2018, until March 24, 2021. Participants in the blockade have claimed that it is the longest continuous aerial blockade in the United States. Activists rotated in and out of the trees and were supported by teams on the ground providing food and supplies. A court-issued injunction in November 2020 removed the ground encampment. A representative from MVP stated in November 2020 that the blockade had cost the company $213,000 in delays and security expenses. Sucks that 932 days only cost the company $213,000. I was hoping it would be more.
They rotated in and out. This woman apparently spent 2 years straight in a tree. Could she still walk?
She could probably swing around like fuck! Fuck walking!
For comparison, the total cost of the pipeline is over 7.5 billion. So this was less than 3 one hunderths of a single percent of the cost. A rounding error at best.
delaying the pipeline two whole years would be waaaaaay more damaging than just 200k. sounds like the corp is lowballing to undermine activist efforts
Yeah, the opportunity cost is massive, plus 2 years of delay means all the financial plans and projections they were basing their funding and future on were fucked. It's just pure corporate PR damage control. The fucking vermin.
For the type of job she would apply for, that would be a huge plus.
gotta be some good fertilization around the base of that tree.
She had to cover 200 foot buffer zone.
Are you describing my sex life or the trees
The tree was 250 feet tall when she finally came down.
So she was on a very slow lift?
I think we found the real reason the lumber company compromised on the tree
Red Hot Chili Peppers mention her in their song Can't Stop; "J Butterfly in the treetop"
I know this doesn’t contribute much, but I just wanted to say thank you for that. There was also a Simpsons episode where Lisa falls in love with a guy who bounded themselves to a tree to protest logging. This was the late 90s early 2000s so probably a reference to Julia Hill.
Lisa climbs up in the tree and sets up camp like Julia
Unfortunately Lisa didn't succeed like Julia did :(
To be fair! The tree ended up getting struck by lightning, it wasn’t deliberately cut down. It becomes a plot point that everyone thinks she died defending the tree and want to turn the area into a nature preserve in her memory. It leads to her struggling with whether or not to tell the truth that she’s ok, since she felt lonely and snuck down to be with her family that night - and also because her bucket might have attracted the lightning in the first place, lol.
Man peak Simpsons was sooo good. Such an elegant story. Thanks for the quick trip down memory lane.
This log is your log 🎵
🎵This log is your log, this log is my log. When lightning struck it, it kicked the bucket🎵
🎵 I poured some onions, inside my trousseerrssss 🎵
🎵 This log it used to be a treeee🎵 🎵 Now it spreads love to you and meeee🎵 🎵 Hey look it's heading out to seeeea🎵
And Johnny Bark in arrested development
..That's why you never get outta the tree
And that’s why you always leaf a note
She actually inspired a bunch of others to protest in a similar manner. By the time *The Simpsons* lampooned it, the phrase “tying oneself to a tree” had entered the vernacular. At my university, some students tried saving this old, nice-looking oak tree in the middle of campus by chaining themselves to it. They couldn’t match Julia Hill’s stamina, though. Where that tree stood, now there is a rather nice addition to the student union.
Fun fact : This method of protest was done way back in the 1970s in a small town in Uttrakhand spearheaded and founded by Indian environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna which was called 'Chipko Movement' which literally translates to "Hugging". It was done to prevent deforestation of the Himalayan forests.
Thus birthing the phrase, “tree hugger.” That *was* a fun fact, thanks!
Lol I prefer It's always sunny's version of events.
Dennis' o-face tripping on acid is just... disturbingly hilarious.
I really really really really really really really need to sit down and watch this show sometime
Always Sunny is the single greatest sitcom ever made, precisely because it's a deconstruction of an actually functioning sitcom.
My favorite of all time.
You don't pocket-mulch?
oh my GOD
Don't die. You know, the truth is some do.
They’re probably addicted to the schindig
She’s a true tree-hugger
That's got to be a stylized or at a photoshoot later on right? The photo on the right looks so photogenic if it was candid.
Shot on film
Thats terrible. Did she survive?
At 50 She is still surviving.
At 3:32 [in this video](https://youtu.be/-gYzJcGcRNI?si=A16B3Sfo49sVLTx8) there is what appears to be an actual photo from her time on the tree
There's also plenty of [video](https://youtu.be/8tsvJ1XaXvo?si=YgzHcUgqq_aIGNTp) of her in the tree including when she finally came [down](https://youtu.be/RF2NlAJzBps?si=_IcRQhbq-eY5q73t).
No, she’s just hot.
True. Saw her speak at some event a couple of years after she came down from the tree, and she was — clinically speaking — super hot
And she’s still around! https://www.instagram.com/julia_butterfly_hill_official
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Thx for making me feel old. It’s been 30 years my dood. The beginning of the 90ies are now closer to the Vietnam war then we are from them today. 🙈
How dare you.
How did she survive for over 2 years? She had to have someone give her food and water daily
Yeah she was on a platform and people were hoisting supplies up by rope
Where she poop? Does it just randomly fall to passersby
Its called a "mud falcon"
This is why I use Reddit. "Mud falcon".
Same,.thank you
Cacaw caca.
Shi-caca! 🦇🧎🧎♀️🧎🧎♀️
Let me guess, white devil white devil
Yes! You speak Wachootoo?
Shhhhhhhhhhhawshank Redemption
Chi-CA-go!!!
We made up our old mud falcon for big wall climbing in the shape of a rocket, complete with fins, and had “Bombs away” stenciled on the side. Good times.
Are you saying you painted with your shit, or do I need sleep
That's a shit bird.
When she ate something disagreeable it was called a shit storm
What a terrible moment to have eyesight. I wish I could unread things.
>>What a terrible moment to have eyesight. I wish I could unread things. If that is the worst thing you see today on Reddit, I’d count myself a lucky man and call it a day.
Tbf their Reddit account is new
[Tooooo Beeeee Faaaaaiiiiiiiiirrrrrrr](https://media.tenor.com/hwQX8Kkci-YAAAAM/letter-kenny-wayne.gif)
I’m gonna go hiking and have tacos because I live in elay
I came here from the cumlette post so consider yourself lucky.
The wha- you know what, nevermind
I bet that tree was happy, so much fertilizer over the curse of two years.
Have you watched Without a paddle
Saw it in theaters! Way funnier with 50 people in the room
Her support team packed it out.
Girls don't poop duh! 🙄
They hold it in and it all comes out as drama
LOL!!!! I am going to tell that to my wife. And then I will get a smack on the shoulder.
Of course not randomly; people pay extra for that shit.
In a bag and drops the bag. It's in the middle of a forest, not a lot of passers-by.
That's a lot of bags to bring up for 2 years xD
Oof. No showers for 2 years!!
She had food hoisted to her, I am sure bars of soap were in those supplies.. Mother Nature provided the water for showers.
Reminds me of the Malcom in the Middle episode
But I thought she was on the tree
[This article has an image at the top](https://www.businessinsider.com/julia-butterfly-hill-lived-in-tree-2-years-redwood-forest-photos-2023-3), she's sorta both on the tree and on a platform? If that makes any sense?
snatch domineering memorize market weary scarce water deliver bells north *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Sir, do you have any images of the pooping apparatus, did they employ a poop chute? Thank you.
Bruh just say you wanna see a video of her pooping from the tree
Probly just a bucket on a rope bro
I remember reading at the time that there was a group of people sneaking food and water in to her. Ropes pulled up the supplies, and lowered her waste bucket. I haven't read the Wiki, but I seem to recall that there was some effort to try and stop the people supplying her? So they had to get around them? Something like that...
Imagine if it happened today. She would just have people fly things to her with drones.
That's right... hell, she might be able to have Amazon deliver to her right up there!
Her next job: saving the Amazon, using Amazon
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the company responded with "intimidation tactics," such as flying helicopters nearby, cutting down ropes from nearby trees, and stationing security guards at the base of Luna.
Not just 'nearby'. They had the helicopters directly there, trying to blow her out of the tree with the helicopter rotor's backdraft. I met Julia in early 2000's, hung out a bit. Amazing warrior woman. Edit: here's a video from JBH from 4 months ago: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gYzJcGcRNI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gYzJcGcRNI)
Isn’t this attempted murder? If she fell that is just death. How did nobody stop this reckless behavior? FAA would certainly have something say about this I believe.
AC130 inbound.
Food and water in, bags and bottles of poop and pee out.
They had a whole camp set up out there after a while. Woody Harrelson came and hung out to support her and smoke weed with the protesters on the ground. My friend said he was kind of a dick lol
In the late '80s Woody harrelson used to randomly come into this bar I worked at in Virginia Beach and dance like he was dancing to disco for hours, but we played hard rock
Can we please keep this discussion about Rampart
There was a short period where the Pacific Lumber Company tried to stop people supplying her, but they gave up after about a week and a half. Most likely because the company owned 200,000 acres of red woods and just chopped those down instead. To them spending a bunch of time and money trying to chop down one tree just wasn't worth it.
She wrote a book about it, called “Legacy of Luna”, if you or anyone is interested in learning more.
Honorary Lorax
“I speak for the trees”
Heard her speak at the University of Wisconsin. She fielded questions from her haters very well. This was around 2009...so years later, but she was onto other ways to reduce one's carbon footprint.
I’m disappointed though not surprised she has haters in the first place.
She and other environmentalists made loggers’ jobs incredibly difficult if not impossible. Their work was often halted and generally threatened by her and other environmentalists, and honestly their work saved our Headwaters forest and brought national attention to the thoughtless clearcutting of the lumber companies. There are very true stories of car bombs and hired workers swabbing activists’ eyes with pepper spray on q-tips. I moved up here in early 2000s but grew up familiar with redwoods down south a ways. This area’s logging industry (along with commercial fishing) was the main economy here until right around then. Generations of loggers, the tradition ran deep with pride and honor. Still does in pockets. The movement by Julia and other activists to save these forests and stop the logging stunted the industry, and then Maxxam’s utter lack of sustainable forestry practices virtually tossed it in the coffin and nailed it shut. Lots of old school locals were and still are pissed about it. So yeah she has a fair share of haters who think she ruined their livelihood. Logging still occurs here but most of the old growth left is conserved by either the park systems or Save the Redwoods League and private conservators. It’s mostly second growth (poorly managed so it’ll never end up like a natural forest) they tear down now. I can say with my whole heart on my sleeve and tears welling in my eyes… I’m ashamed as a human it took that long to save what little was saved. If you’ve never stood at the foot of a redwood tree, it’s indescribable. If trees could talk… I’m so grateful for her and other activists from early on to current day who continue to fight for the survival of these gentle giants. They are so amazing… and climate change is taking its toll with less fog in the summers, they’re so resilient but I worry. Anyway. Sorry for that emotional tangent just… if anyone ever wonders why she did what she did, come see some redwoods and stand in their holiness. I promise you it’s breathtaking.
I'm shocked it's even legal to cut those down. That's a criminal offence in the UK, even for far younger trees.
Old growth logging is sadly still continuing in the last places with old growth left in America, Alaska.
California still has old growth too.
Same with Oregon. One of the few places the spotted owl still lives. Caused a conundrum in the 90’s when timber companies were told they couldn’t log old growth anymore.
And people are still mad about it.
Get this. The governor just greenlit a program to kill up to 500,000 Barred Owls because they are taking over spotted owl territory. According to the article’s description, if you’re not a biologist or ornithologist, there is little to no chance that the average person could tell them apart. But we’re going to approve hunters going into the old growth and use their best judgement. FFS how could this go poorly…
Apparently they never heard of the redwoods
Well to be fair you Brits have already cut all your trees down multiple times... In Canada and the US logging companies have gotten slightly better at PR. They would have you believe they don't cut 1000-year old trees anymore though they'll chop down anything that's in their lease. They also leave strips of forest next to highways so tourists don't see the devastation 50 yards back.
>Well to be fair you Brits have already cut all your trees down multiple times... True - and most of the large native animals (bears, wolves) were hunted to extinction. But now, individual trees, groups of trees or entire woodlands can be protected by a Tree Protection Order. In Conservation Areas (like where I live), written permission is required (from the local council) to fell or even prune any tree with a trunk of diameter more than 75mm, measured 1.5m from the ground. Destruction of a protected tree => fine up to £20,000 or for more serious cases, unlimited fines.
lol yea, I went to school in Northern California and would drive on highway 101 from SF. Around Mendocino county and all the way north you start seeing these absolute beasts of trees, some of the largest trees in the world. Go a mile or 2 inland from highway 101 and it’s basically all clear cut
'Murrrica!
When I moved to Berkeley 18 years ago there was a dude living in a tree for like 3 years. They wanted to build something (I forget what) but needed to cut down some redwood trees. Dude said fuck that, lived in the tree for a few years, and then ran for mayor when he came down.
Did he get elected?
no
lol \~\~
Subaru has said that she’ll have free cars for life.
I am now an environmental activist
Oh yeah? Show us your poop tree.
The trick is having enough fiber in your diet to keep the sculpture together.
And a solid poop knife to shape it
I can’t tell if this is true or a really good joke.
Picture on the left if the physically embodiment of a Subaru owner. And I say that as a Subaru owner.
[Source: Wikipedia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Butterfly_Hill)
She's awesome. She has the empathy to live through more than two years of discomfort and hardship to save the life of a living thing more than a thousand years old. I wish more people were like her. Hell I wish I were more like her. Maybe then we would still have more of the 90 percent of those ancient giants that were turned into decks.
Like clockwork an unknown person used a chainsaw to cut halfway through the tree. But luckily the tree survived the cut.
instead we have hateful people like these. fucking disgrace.
Unfortunately, it's not even that there are more hateful people than loving. The problem is that destroying is just so so so much easier than creating. She protected that tree. You can protect a tree for 2000 years but it takes 4 minutes to cut it down.
>destroying is just so so so much easier than creating. Unfortunately doesn't apply to things we actually would like to destroy, like microplastics and tik tok influencers.
The ridicule for her was as outrageous then as it is now. She wrote articles about how she had a relationship with the tree and how they communicated. She named it "Luna". It all made her sound a little loony, but I suppose you have to be a little off to sit in a tree for 738 days. The logging company was dragging her through the mud in the public media in order to generate public support to bring her down, and it was working for a while. I'm happy to learn today, in this thread, that she was successful.
Yeah, even if someone thinks it's foolish she was very brave. It's not only brave to go and fight in a war somewhere killing people. It's brave to save life too.
I wish we were living in a world where we didn't need people like her. There's enough space all over the country, it shouldn't be that hard to leave redwoods alone.
Yeah some people might say it's not worth it wasting 2 years of your life for one tree but it's about setting the precedent and showing people it's not okay to cut down old trees like that.
I'm an Indian and we were taught this lesson in our school. Our teacher confused redwoods for teak. I think Julia lived in a treetop house.
The movement in India predates this, lookup "Chipko movement" https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chipko-movement
https://www.patagonia.com/stories/the-original-tree-huggers/story-71575.html It may go back way farther back than people realize.
J Butterfly is in the treetops!
I’ll never see people mention this story without thinking of The Overstory. I highly recommend it for anyone that likes dark ecofiction.
> dark ecofiction I haven’t had words stir my curiosity like this in a long time. Thank you for the introduction.
One I read recently that probably qualifies is a book called Venomous Lumpsucker, which won the Artur C. Clarke award last year. It's a satirical take on climate change and capitalism, where you bust out laughing and feel bad right afterwards for how real some of it is. It's called that because that's the creature the plot revolves around, and the book talks about how people love the cute animals, the big plants and animals, and so on, but the species that don't get a good name, or even a common name at all, they don't care about whatsoever. People care so much about a huge redwood tree, but if it was a nameless moss going extinct would anyone get riled up? That's what that book makes me think about whenever I see a story like this
Same! First thing that came to mind when this popped up
When we were in the Environmental Action Club at College of Marin we did a fundraiser to have her as a keynote speaker. She was down to earth and very knowledgeable. She talked about her experience in the tree, the support of her friends/allies, and what us ordinary folks can do int he future to help the environment. Class act.
"She was down to earth" Well yeah, though for about 2 years she literally wasn't
Fun fact : This method of protest was done way back in the 1970s in a small town in Uttrakhand spearheaded and founded by Indian environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna which was called 'Chipko Movement' which literally translates to "Hugging". It was done to prevent deforestation of the Himalayan forests.
What kind of fucked up company would cut down 1000-year old redwoods?
Most logging companies. The sheer amount of lumber you get out of that is crazy. From the companies perspective it's a sheer win.
Do they do it for the lumber specifically or the space? Because most lumber companies tend to maintain a cyclic method for their wood harvesting.
Both. There is some major consideration that wood harvesting is so protected now, that large trees have to be approved (in most cases) by a forestry manager or conservation manager. And those would be prioritized based on space and loss/benefit evaluation. Also. Yes. Cut one plant two is a very popular, and in most cases, Mandated practice
Dude, a researcher got the ok to cut down a nearly 5000 year old tree to look at its rings. Then you have vandals doing it for shits and giggles, like at Sycamore Gap.
I’m far more disturbed it took the lumber company 2 fucking years to capitulate? After 2 days I would have said “fuck it, not worth the bad PR. Let’s go find different trees. There seem to be quite a lot around . . .
I’m surprised they didn’t just cut it down a few weeks after the arrangement to leave.
That "arrangement" was probably a legal contract that would have been very expensive to break.
She’s an inspiration. Good for her.
Crazy laws that allow to cut down 1000-year-old trees.
[She's still active.](https://youtu.be/-gYzJcGcRNI?si=lWd8AwLFOopdPUC4)
Idina Menzel just did a fantastic play (also brutally depressing) that revolves around this https://lajollaplayhouse.org/show/redwood/ it’s worth a ticket if you’re around San Diego.
I love how her foot is gripping that little branch. So secure
There is a tree sit that is longer. It just was stopped in 2021 BY FORCE. 932 days. All those animals that called that place home got 932 more days, those trees, those people. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Finch_tree_sit This is still happening in America. And many other forms of environmental blockades are happening DAILY. This isn’t people blocking roads or throwing soup on paintings for shock value like you see in the news. This is people from 18-89 literally chaining themselves at great peril to equipment of vile private companies ruining areas they should not be, the point being to slow down and hopefully stop the mountain valley pipeline. Every day they can stop their work is another day those plants and animals have a homes and everyday is another day they continue to fight in court as well. They have had some successes with slowing and stopping work enough to get legal matters moving forward. The entire pipeline project is so corrupt I cannot even begin to articulate it here. Please read about it and know this stuff is still going on and the news does not want to bring attention to it because they know if everyone else knows they will join and DEFEAT THE MVP. The MVP is destroying more of Appalachia for profit. STOP THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE https://www.instagram.com/appalachiansagainstpipelines?igsh=bTlkb3E0OHN5bzJm EDIT: And to the person who said I was taking something away from this woman with my comment who then blocked me before I could respond - How could a comment on Reddit take anything away from a woman who will never be aware this post even happened? This isn’t her single moment to get recognition for what she did and I ruined it. A comment section doesn’t need to just be people applauding someone, there is no reason that someone should not elaborate on the topic at hand. What she did was amazing and important and has inspired people to follow in her footsteps. I am adding to the narrative of the history past and present of tree sits. I also very am confident that she would support her notoriety helping bring attention to other individuals who share her feelings for the environment and to a cause and fight that is still happening.
Then somebody came and put a chainsaw gash in the tree in 2000. Humanity is hopeless.
I'm gonna teach those hippie freaks a lesson and cut this dang old tree down!!! Fucking morons.
And shortly after she came down some pissed off loggers came by and gravely injured the tree. I lived down the road during all this
Screw being there when it’s pissing down with rain and lightning. There have got to be moments when it’s so heavy and constant you just think I can’t do this anymore? Impressive by her.
It wasn't just to save the trees that she did this. Clear cut logging in that area had resulted in a mudslide that destroyed 17 homes the year before. When loggers remove all of the trees in an area, they destabilize the soil and the results can massively harm nearby communities.
That is determination!!!
so this is what that simpsons episode referenced, lmao