Julia Butterfly Hill
| Julia Butterfly Hill | |
|---|---|
Hill in 2006
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| Born |
Julia Lorraine Hill February 18, 1974 Mount Vernon, Missouri, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation |
Environmental activist Motivational speaker |
| Employer | Circle of Life Foundation |
| Website | www |
Julia Lorraine Hill (known as Julia "Butterfly" Hill, born February 18, 1974) is an American environmental activist and tax redirection advocate. She is best known for having lived in a 180-foot (55 m)-tall, roughly 1500-year-old California redwood tree for 738 days between December 10, 1997 and December 18, 1999. Hill lived in the tree, affectionately known as Luna, to prevent Pacific Lumber Company loggers from cutting it down. She is the author of the 2000 book The Legacy of Luna and co-author of One Makes the Difference. She is a vegan.
Hill's father was a traveling minister who went from town to town, bringing his family with him. Until she was about ten years old, Hill lived in a 32-foot (9.8 m) camper with her father Dale, mother Kathy, and brothers Mike and Dan. Julia is the middle child. While traveling with her family, Hill often explored rivers by campgrounds. When Hill was seven years old, she and her family were taking a hike one day when a butterfly landed on her finger and stayed with her for the duration of the hike. From that day on, her nickname became "Butterfly". She decided to use that as her nickname for the rest of her life.
When Hill was in middle school, her family stopped traveling and settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In August 1996, at age 22, Hill suffered a near-fatal car crash. At the time, Hill was acting as the designated driver for a friend who had been drinking. Her friend's car was hit from behind by a drunk driver. The steering wheel of the car penetrated Hill's skull. It took almost a year of intensive therapy before she regained the ability to speak and walk normally. She said:
As I recovered, I realized that my whole life had been out of balance...I had graduated high school at 16, and had been working nonstop since then, first as a waitress, then as a restaurant manager. I had been obsessed by my career, success, and material things. The crash woke me up to the importance of the moment, and doing whatever I could to make a positive impact on the future. The steering wheel in my head, both figuratively and literally, steered me in a new direction in my life.
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Wikipedia