Up A Tree
I was writing something more in line with my normal weird stories on the internet vibe; when something else caught my eye. I read this story and at first, didn't appreciate the real impact it should have on us all, you can read it simply as a David vs Goliath underdog story or you can see it as it really is, probably the very thing those shadowy hands don't want you to see.
The story begins with a logging corporation in the United States, California; called the Pacific Lumber Company. They began felling ancient redwood pines in the area causing at one point a landslide burying a town, the girl who happened to be attending an event fundraiser in the area found herself volunteering for the role of tree sitting for a week to disrupt the corporation's ability to fell the trees in the ancient woodland. So on the 10th December 1997, she made her way to the old tree, with the expectation of being done in a week. Aware it was just enough to cause some delays and issues to the logging company, but not likely to stop them in the long run.
One week passed by and she didn't want to leave, she wanted to stay; to be the proverbial fly in the ointment of the system. Over time people would come and deliver food supplies to her, books and other forms of entertainment. The logging company however did not take it lightly they harassed her with helicopter flyovers in the night and they employed security guards to siege the tree for ten days denying her access to supplies. Throughout all of this, she maintained her stance and place, rooting herself firmly in the tree.
Finally, on the 18th of December 1999, she left what was her home after just over 2 years, after the logging company agreed to preserve the tree that the girl had affectionately named ‘Luna’. However, the company wanted the $50,000 raised by well-wishers and supporters for the girl in the tree.
The girl was called Julia Butterfly Hill, this is her here:
Even if you read this and thought “Oh god, another tree-hugger, swampy type”, you still have to respect not only her sheer resilience in the face of an overwhelming behemoth in the logging company, but you have to respect her decision to make a stand, to say “No” as one single person. We could all learn from this, we could learn that one person, with a single idea; can scale even the most insurmountable peak.
This is Julia’s book on her time living in Luna, worth a read;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Legacy-Luna-Julia-Butterfly-Hill/dp/0062516590/ref=asc_df_0062516590/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10548475730457624647&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045930&hvtargid=pla-2281435177098&psc=1&mcid=46fd791601f53bee9b4c3d7e4492a805&hvocijid=10548475730457624647-0062516590-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1
By Carl-John Veraja - Cropped from https://www.flickr.com/photos/45212072@N00/306079940/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9503650