Friends of the Earth: A History of American Environmentalism with 21 Activities
old she climbed high into Luna She later said I gave my word to this tree and to all the people that my feet would not touch the ground until I had done everything in my power to make the world aware of this problem and to stop the destruction She was there for a little over two years All around her the Pacific Lumber Company was cutting trees Hill said You hear the incessant buzzing of the chain saws hour after hour until your ears are ringing and then you hear the creaking the groaning as it's about to fall and then it sounds like thunder as it crashes through all the trees it has to hit on the way down and then it's a loud BWAAM BOOM You can feel the earth trembling all the way up through Luna The lumber company had posted security guards at the base of the tree At first they blew bugles and air horns at night to keep her from sleeping and called her names and cussed at her They also tried to keep her from getting supplies Hill's home for two years was that six by eight foot wooden platform Her walls and roof were made out of tarps She had a single burner camp stove to cook on and a cell phone to stay in touch with other environmental workers Solar panels placed in the tree powered the phone Her friends used a rope to send up supplies including food mail and propane for the stove For a bathroom she used a bucket then put the waste in a plastic bag and lowered it to the ground Her friends
took it away and disposed of it properly For exercise Hill climbed around in the tree and walked around the platform She collected rainwater in the tarps to use for cooking bathing and drinking Finally on December 18 1999 Hill received good news The Pacific Lumber Company had agreed never to cut down Luna They also agreed that they would not log any other trees in a three acre area around it So Hill ended her two year tree sit She and other environmentalists had raised 50 000 which they gave to the logging company to be used for research on sustainable forestry Julia Butterfly Hill received several awards for her bravery and determination She continues to work to save the forests including rainforests in South and Central
ENVIRONMENTALISM THROUGH THE YEARS William Penn Dover Publications Inc o what is environmentalism and when did it begin Environmentalism means working to take care of our Earth and to solve problems such as the pollution of water and air and the exhaustion of natural resources Many people think environmentalism is a new idea devel
oped within the past 50 years or so However American environmentalism began before the Europeans arrived in the Americas They didn t call it environmental ism but the Native Americans practiced it When they killed an animal they didn't waste any part of it The meat of buffalo was used for food the skin for clothing and tepees the fat for making candles and the bone to make tools American Indians had a reverence for their environment They believed that man was a part of his environment and that all things in the environment were related to one another Curley Bear Wagner cultural officer for the Montana Blackfeet said Your environmental movement is just white people beginning to put down roots on this continent It's about time Like all other cultural groups Native Americans at times misused the land overhunted game and over populated certain areas However they paid a great deal of attention to the environment compared with other cultural groups The European settlers in America made some early attempts at caring for the environment William Penn governor of Pennsylvania in 1690 required the settlers there to preserve one acre of trees for every
