Julia Butterfly
Julia Lorraine Hill “Butterfly”
Julia Butterfly is an American environmental activist who was born on February 18, 1974, in Mount Vernon, Missouri, USA. Hill grew up with a traveling religious family that settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
She attended Arkansas State University at the age of eighteen. Hill decided to join the environmentalist movement around 1997 after recovering from severe injuries that resulted from a car accident. She gained her nickname “butterfly” in her early childhood years and has gone by it since her first tree sitting.
Hill fought against the destruction of ecologically significant Forests. She lived in a 1000-year-old canopy wood tree, called Luna, for 738 days (around two years), to raise awareness on destructive deforestation practices and protest against the clear-cutting of California’s Redwood forests.
Her efforts grabbed the media’s attention towards the non-environmentally friendly logging practices of the Pacific Lumber Company (Palco), by breaking the world record for tree sitting.
Hill’s attempts to protect the forest were a success, as an agreement was reached after her stay, preserving all trees surrounding Luna within 200 feet, in exchange for $50,000 for lost revenue, which was later donated to Humboldt State University to fund sustainable forestry research.
Hill continued her efforts to defend nature and fight for social justice by becoming a writer, poet, and educator, sharing her stories about the years she lived in the tree.
She published a national bestseller book in April 2000 called The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods. Hill also became the founder of the “Circle of Life ‘’, a non-profit organization dedicated to education and activism efforts to promote the protection of the earth and its resources.
She succeeded in raising awareness on the fact that only 3 percent of the ancient redwood forests remain and exposed Pacific Lumber/Maxxam Corporations for their non-environmentally sensitive policies.
Julia Hill deserves a monument for her dedication to environmental activism and as recognition for the challenges she faced during her stay at Luna to spread her message across the world. Hill's “home” on the tree was made of six-by-eight-foot platforms, which did not protect her from severe weather, and subjected her to cold weather, rain, and illness.
In fact, she experienced one of the most severe storms from El Nino. During her stay, many attempts were made to force her down, including receiving death threats.
The two years when Hill lived on the high tree left impacts on her mental and physical well-being, as she mentioned “The first three months were so hard that I was praying to die. I didn’t want to hurt that bad anymore. And yet at the same time I didn’t want to give up”.
In honor of her efforts and facing many struggles in order to make a powerful statement and protect our earth, I would like to design a monument dedicated to her which will be a tree placed over a base that looks like a butterfly.
The location on the GMU Fairfax campus ideal for the monument is in the area outside horizon hall and SUB I.
This area is in the center of multiple buildings and has colored benches and green spaces where students spend time. This space is also close to the library, which makes it a location that many students usually pass by, allowing the opportunity for the monument to be viewed and appreciated by many students, faculty members, alumni, and visitors.
The second location to place the monument is in Humboldt County, California. Since it is near where the Redwoods Forest is located, which will serve as a reminder to all visitors of Hill and her efforts towards protecting sacred Forests.
