We’re joined right now in the studio by another person who was at the peace vigil in New York on September 10, Julia Butterfly.

On December 18th, 1999, Julia Butterfly inspired millions when she triumphantly descended from the giant redwood tree Luna, concluding a 2-year tree-sit protest, which resulted in the protection of a group of redwood trees in Humbolt County, California.

More recently, Julia Butterfly was deported from Ecuador in July after being detained along with seven Ecuadorians for a peaceful protest against the construction of an oil pipeline through the country’s Amazon region.

The oil pipeline targeted by the environmental activists is over 500 kilometers long and is to transport petroleum from the Ecuadorian Amazon across the Andes to the Pacific coast for refining and export.

Representatives the U.S.-based Kerr McGee and Occidental Petroleum have assured that the project complies with the environmental norms stipulated by the World Bank, but the World Bank itself even contradicted this. In a statement issued in December of last year, it reported the oil pipeline construction was not following its environmental rules.

Guest:

• Julia Butterfly Hill, activist for the world’s forest and the communities they protect. She is author of 'The Legacy of Luna: the Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods' and 'One Makes the Difference.'