March 24, 2010

Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill to speak at Morningside College  

Julia Butterfly Hill, an environmental activist, writer and poet who is best known for her two-year-long effort to save a California redwood tree from loggers, will speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, in UPS Auditorium in the Lincoln Center, 3627 Peters Ave., on the Morningside College campus.

Hill’s appearance is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by the Morningside College Committee on Environmental Sustainability and Totally on Earth’s Side, a Morningside student group.

In December 1997, Hill climbed 180 feet up into a giant redwood tree in Humboldt County, California, and lived on a small platform for 738 days to prevent the thousand-year-old tree from being cut down. Her protest resulted in an agreement that provided permanent protection for the tree, which was named “Luna,” and a three-acre buffer zone around it.

Hill is the author of “The Legacy of Luna” and the co-author of “One Makes the Difference,” both published by Harper Collins. In 1999, she founded Circle of Life, a non-profit organization that promotes the sustainability, restoration and preservation of all life.