By Erin Miller

Editor in chief

The opening to the third lecture in the Great Decisions lecture series on Monday by Julia Butterfly Hill may be been a bit more unorthodox than most of what is usually heard in the chapel.

``I begin each presentation with ...reconnecting consciously,'' Hill, an environmentalist best known for spending 738 days in a redwood tree, said. ``We've become so disconnected to everything and ourselves.''

Although the official title for the lecture was ``Energy and the Global Environment,'' the discussion followed Hill's outline loosely, turning into a much less formal, more engaging look at Hill's own entrance into environmentalism and her experiences since, and how those pertain specifically to the topic of energy.

The daughter of a traveling preacher, Hill grew up poor, living in a 30-foot camper with her parents and two brothers. The family would often trade music and preaching for necessities such as food and clothing.

Because of those experiences, Hill said she vowed to not be poor when she was on her own. She went to college and, to the surprise of many in the audience, chose a major she was sure to give her the wealth she desired: business.

Then, in 1996, while driving home from a party as the designated driver, Hill's vehicle was struck from behind by a drunk driver. Though she was wearing her seatbelt at the time, she still suffered from major head injuries. While working through 10 months of intense physical therapy, she said she came to a revelation.

```Oh, maybe there is something more than money,''' she said to herself. ``I figured out I have to have more than my bank account to leave behind.''

Not long after that, Hill had what she called ``the most incredible experience of my life.'' She walked into a giant redwood forest and had her first tree hugging experience.

``It's actually a very powerful thing,'' she said.

After that, Hill became interested in learning more about environmentalism, particularly the protection of ancient trees. She saw, for the first time, a clear cut and learned that within the past 150 years, nearly 97 percent of all trees 1,000-2,000 years old have been cut down.

Hill saw pictures of protesters, their hands swollen to four times the normal size after being locked down to equipment or other immobile objects to prevent logging. She read about women into whose eyes pepper spray was directly applied by the police during a non-violent protest.

Eventually, she came to believe that she, too, should do all she could to protect old-growth forest, so she attend what she called ``base camp'' for tree-sitting. While there, other environmentalists were discussing the necessity of having someone sit in a tree they had named Luna. Hill volunteered, but because of her lack of experience, was not the organizer's first choice.

Her stay in the tree was supposed to last just three weeks, but eventually stretched to just over two years. During that time, Hill said, the logging company first tried to remove her from the tree via wind gusts from a helicopter, by cutting off her food supply and by aiming floodlights at her platform on the tree to keep her from sleeping.

She also ended up spending the worst winter in recent California history in the tree, but none of that was enough to discourage her from completing her purpose. When enough people knew she was there, she said, a critical mass was built, causing the logging company to consent to negotiations to save Luna and the surrounding trees.

``The world is asking us to ...find courage that exists in our hearts and spirits,'' Hill said. For Hill, that meant two years in a tree, but she acknowledged that such a course of action is not for everyone.

Hill said she attempts to live out her beliefs in as many areas of her life as she can. For example, she is a vegan, because she believes animals are so mistreated in farms that she cannot support the meat industry. She also carries hew own mug to all speaking engagements to avoid using disposable cups. She refuses to book a speaking engagement in an area unless she can find several more in that area to avoid wasting gasoline.

Some of her beliefs - such as her opposition to nuclear power - is based on more than just research and the testimonies of other environmentalists. As a child, she was affected by the meltdown of the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

Hill opposes the $38 million designated for nuclear power by Pres. Bush, calling it ``corporate welfare.'' When told there is no money to support the causes championed by environmentalists, such as alternative power sources, she points to budget items like that. If that money were not going to a corporation for nuclear energy, she said, could it not be used for the more environmentally sound policies?

Along with that, Hill said, is the interesting way in which certain options for power and living are worded.

``Everything healthy to our environment and bodies is called `alternative,''' she said. ``Alternative to what?''

Throughout the lecture, Hill encouraged the audience to participate in their own forms of civil disobedience, whether in the form of withhold money when paying taxes on moral grounds or choosing to buy corporate logo-free clothing at thrift stores.

``If you want to change ... we have to take our money back,'' she said. ``[If you] take support away from the wrong thing, there's a lot there after all.''

Hill said she is often asked how she is able to keep up so much energy while struggling for her causes. She said she tells those asking that the work does not make her tired.

``I don't struggle,'' she said. ``I just live.''