Catching up with ... Julia Butterfly Hill

[XemaSab]

Julia Butterfly Hill climbed down from the tree she named Luna 10 years ago this December. After 738 days, and surviving an El Niño winter on the tip of a redwood, her protest turned Hill into an international symbol for environmental activism.

Since then, she's become an inspirational speaker (some 250 events a year), a best-selling author and the co-founder of the Engage Network, a nonprofit that trains small groups of civic leaders to work toward social change.

Now the 35-year-old, based in the East Bay for seven years, is taking a step out of the public eye and moving to Playa Viva, a beachfront sustainable resort in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Living in a warm climate will ease a congenital respiratory problem (she uses an inhaler when in the Bay Area), she said, and the ocean will soothe a painful case of hip dysplasia.

The downtime will be a welcome comfort. A biopic of Hill's life is in development, and if all goes well, it will yet again cast an intense spotlight in her direction. This year, she's spending Earth Day speaking at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/16/DDPQ16TJPC.DTL