Essay Sample about Julia Butterfly Hill

Julia “Butterfly” Hill saved a redwood tree by living in it for two years. Julia is a spiritual environmental activist who dedicated two years of her life in 1997 saving an ancient redwood tree from Pacific Lumber. Pacific Lumber's a logging company that was cutting down and profiting off of redwood trees, even though they're an endangered tree species. The tree she lived in is named Luna, and Luna is a thousand years old, towering at two hundred feet. Living in a tree might sound effortless, but not in Julia's case. As a matter of fact, she came across countless dilemmas. But nevertheless, Julia was able to dwell in and defend Luna by staying resourceful, committed, and courageous. 

Julia was quite resourceful, she needed to be otherwise she wouldn’t have a sustainable lifestyle in Luna. She acquired many tools like; solar panels, a camping stove, a cordless phone and an electronic organizer. For her sleeping headquarters, Julia slept under a tarp on an eight by eight foot platform. In addition to that, she also found ways to take care of her personal hygiene, hence having no running water. According to the article, it states,”I go to the bathroom like everyone else, just minus the technology… I gather water, heat it up and scrub myself.” Julia received the necessary supplies she needed via ground teams bringing up Julia her necessities including food every week. Living in a tree required Julia to be innovative and use her resources, which she sufficiently managed to do.

Another point worth noting is that Julia was extremely committed to Luna. The prime reason why she even lived in Luna was to protect her from Pacific Lumber. Luna is a part of Julia’s spirituality after all, so she wasn’t going to give in and surrender her. A quote from the article reads,”Hill refused to come down until she received assurances that the tree she lived on would be spared within a buffer zone.” Thus Julia wasn’t coming down unless her demands were met. Despite Julia being unable to see her family and friends, having no running water, and enduring disastrous weather conditions, she managed to stay committed to protecting Luna at all costs. 

Finally, my last and final point is that Julia was remarkably courageous. Luna was on the property of Pacific Lumber, which meant that Julia was trespassing, running the risk of possibly getting fined or even arrested. One night, there was an atrocious storm with wind speeds up to ninety m.p.h. An excerpt from the article explains that,”One night I thought I was going to die. The wind was ninety m.p.h… I was broken emotionally, mentally, spiritually, suffering frostbite, cut off from the only people that care whether I live or die.” The fact that she continued to stay in Luna after that horrific experience just demonstrates how brave she was. Another unfortunate situation Julia withstood was when Pacific Lumber brought her under a security siege as an attempt to starve her down. Due to Julia's courageousness, she was able to accomplish her goal and save Luna. 

Finally, it may be concluded that Julia was resourceful, committed, and courageous throughout her two years living in Luna. Julia benefited off her resources and used them to her advantage, after all, she was living in a tree and didn’t have much to work with. She was also committed to saving Luna, and made sure that she wasn’t going to end up cut down as well as being profited off of. And lastly, Julia was courageous, she never left Luna no matter what even if it meant legal trouble or possible death. Endangered trees should be protected and preserved at all costs, people like Julia shouldn’t have to risk their life to stop big corporations from cutting these beautiful trees down.