'Butterfly' spreads wings on campus

By Michelle L. Young
Daily Forty-Niner

The Odyssey project continues its theme, "The Future: Values and Technology in a Global Community," with guest speaker Julia "Butterfly" Hill, who will speak today at 2 p.m. in the University Student Union's small auditorium.

"The Odyssey planning committee chose Julia "Butterfly" Hill because she walks her talk," said Lisa Sragovicz, Odyssey program coordinator. "She is a woman of passion and dedication."
 Hill, 26, lived in a 1,000 year-old redwood tree named Luna for over two years in Humboldt County.

She lived on a tarp-covered platform, 180 feet up in the branches of Luna. She relied on rain to bathe herself and food was brought to her on a rope.

Hill wrote a book called "The Legacy of Luna," which tells her tree-hugging story.

"Tree sitting is a last resort. When you see someone sitting in a tree, trying to protect it, you know that every level of our society has failed," concludes Hill in her story.

Hill, daughter of a nondenominational evangelist, found her passion through prayer and listening to nature.

"One day through my prayers, an overwhelming amount of love started flowing into me, filling up the dark hole that threatened to consume me," writes Hill. "I suddenly realized that what I was feeling was the love of the Earth, the love of Creation.   Everyday we as a species, do so much to destroy Creation's ability to give us life. But that Creation continues to do everything in its power to give us life anyway. And that's true love."

The redwoods inspired Hill to form a foundation called the Circle of Life Foundation whose goal is to develop social and environmental solutions.

Hill's tree-sit was the solution for the government to purchase 2.9 acres of redwood trees, the last 3 percent of the world's redwoods, including Luna for preservation against the Pacific Lumber Company.

Julia "Butterfly" Hill