Youth environmental conference this weekend Youth environmental conference this weekend (February 06, 2004)

Julia Butterfly Hill to be keynote speaker

By Julie O'Shea

History will no doubt remember Julia Butterfly Hill as the young activist who, one winter day, decided to make a 200-foot-tall tree her home.

It was December 1997 when Hill climbed up into "Luna," an ancient redwood in the mountains of Stafford, a small community about 230 miles north of San Francisco. The goal was to keep the tree from being cut down, but Hill would later say that she was acting as the face and voice of an entire forest that couldn't speak for itself.

It was more than two years before she climbed back down. Four years later, Hill, now 29 and living in Oakland, has hardly slowed down. Starting her own environmental activism group, Circle of Life, in 1999, Hill has traveled around the country talking to people about the importance of protecting all living things.

This weekend, she will be the keynote speaker at the 10th Annual Deep Global Training, a conference for teen activists hosted by Acterra High Schools Group. The event, which explores environmental and social justice issues, will be held at Peninsula School in Menlo Park on Feb. 7. It is open to any interested area high school students, and organizers are expecting some 80 teens to attend.

When she shows up at the global training conference Saturday, Hill said she hopes to do more interacting than lecturing.

"We are constantly told that we are the leaders of tomorrow. That's a lie," Hill said in a phone interview last week. "We are the leaders of today."

Call her a celebrity, and Hill, the middle child of a traveling preacher, balks. She hates the word and adamantly claims that she's just one person trying to do the right thing.

"I don't do something unless I believe in it," she said.

Aaron Zonka, a student at Foothill Middle College and this year's conference chair, said one of the event organizers is a friend of Hill's and with a simple phone call, managed to convince the famous tree-sitter to stop by for a talk this weekend.

"It's going to be awesome," said Zonka, whose band, Azura, will be providing live entertainment for conference attendees on Saturday night.

The Deep Global Training conference has been in the works for "months and months," according to Zonka. Besides Hill, Patrick Reinsborough, a former Rainforest Action Network campaigner, will also be a guest speaker.

The day will start at 9 a.m. at the Peninsula School at 920 Peninsula Way in Menlo Park. Organizers have put together workshops that center on topics including campaign organizing, watershed protection, media skills, solar schools and sustainable food. Dinner and entertainment offerings will continue until 10 p.m.

Sunday's portion of the conference, considered by organizers to be more hands-on, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be held at various spots around the Peninsula. Activities will include nature awareness, a habitat restoration at the Arastradero Preserve and a tour of the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

Teens can buy tickets in advance for $10 or at the door for $15. The ticket price includes lunch and dinner for Saturday. For more information call 962-9876 or visit www.acterra.org/deepgreen.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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