Hippie protestor falls from tree...

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I guess it's appropriate that he was part of Earth First! -- that's what he hit after his fall...

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Oct11.html

 

SAN FRANCISCO –– Tree sitting has become an increasingly popular way to protest logging operations, but it can also be lethal.

 

A man with the environmental activist group Earth First! died this week after he fell more than 50 feet from a redwood tree – the latest fatality of tree-sitting protests.

 

The man, whose identity hasn't been released but who went by the forest name "Naya," had only been in the tree for about 12 hours on Tuesday evening when he fell, according to Dennis Davie of the Santa Cruz contingent of Earth First!

 

"Santa Cruz Earth First! is deeply saddened by this tragic event. We never like to lose an activist," said Davie. "This was a young man in his first tree-sit."

 

Earth First! has been staging tree-sit protests against logging company Redwood Empire's operation in the Ramsey Gulch area, about 20 miles south of San Jose, since August.

 

Another protester also died this year while tree-sitting. In April, 22-year-old Beth O'Brien of Portland, Ore., died after falling from a tree in Mount Hood National Forest. In September 1998, David "Gypsy" Chain became the first California Earth First! activist to be killed during a tree-sit protest when the Humboldt County tree he was living in was felled by a logger.

 

"They think they're on a mission and they don't consider the risks involved," said Jim Branham, a spokesman for Pacific Lumber Co., which has about six protesters currently on its logging property in Humboldt County, 30 miles southeast of Eureka. "I do think they view their actions as being somehow heroic, instead of dangerous or illegal."

 

Davie said he acknowledges that tree sitting is dangerous, and that there is a heroic nature to putting one's body on the line to protect something. But he said all Earth First! protesters, including Naya, were given training on how to remain safe and healthy.

 

Davie said Naya came to the Earth First! camp saying he had rock climbing experience. After several hours scrutiny, the group determined he was capable of climbing the tree, Davie said. He was also given some training on the ground before going up. Normally, tree sitters are given two days of training.

 

"They believed he climbed well, but it still was his first tree sit," Davie said.

 

A cause of the man's fatal fall has not been determined. He was taken by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The county coroner's office had not determined the cause of death, or the man's identity Thursday.

 

Earth First! activists have protested logging operations in the Ramsey Gulch area for more than two years. The logging company issued a statement Wednesday saying its employees were saddened by the death.

 

Tree sitters can spend months camped on platforms in trees, hoping to call attention to the environmental effects of logging. In perhaps the most famous tree sit, Julia "Butterfly" Hill spent two years 180 feet up in a 1,000-foot redwood in Northern California to save it from being cut down for lumber.

 

She came down in 1999 after Pacific Lumber Co. agreed to leave the tree standing in return for $50,000 to make up for lost logging revenue.

[Guest EricMM]

If they hadn't of been trying to log those forests, he wouldn't have been in that tree.

 

I think it's clear whos at fault here

[Guest LaParkaMarka]

Hahahahaha

Well, I suppose I shouldn't laugh at the death of a human being.

No, wait, I still am.

 

I'm suprised they don't use harnesses or cables or something. Especially after the last death.

[Guest KingOfOldSchool]

"The county coroner's office had not determined the cause of death"

 

Um, he fell 50 feet from a tree. I don't even know what else you could find out about how he died. It's not like it's a great mystery or anything.

 

Am I fucked up, or does anyone else (besides myself and LaParkaMark, that is) even find this remotely funny?

[Guest Mad Dog]

Serves them right for trying to fuck with someone's life.

 

I'm sick of these people ruining so many lives for a few animals.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Personally, I'm sick of a billion dollar company tearing down our natural resources to turn it into toilet paper, TV Guide, and the Weekly World News.

[Guest J*ingus]

Actually, these protestors don't bug me nearly as much as most of the idiots out there. They're not doing much harm, just sitting in one tree and keeping it from being cut down, so it's not like they're the eco-terrorists who go around bombing construction sites. And they really put their lives and welfare on the line, unlike plenty of sofa-bound saviors who talk big but never do anything. While I don't agree with what they're actually trying to do (the logging industry plants more trees than it cuts), I do admire their approach and their spirit.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

They should just use the land they've got clear, and grow hemp there instead. An acre of hemp can produce more paper than an acre of trees, it doesn't deplete the soil, it's insect and disease resistant, so don't worry about pesticides, and it's growth cycle is a tiny fraction of these trees.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Politically difficult.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Which is exactly why it's not going to happen. Way too much money has been invested in the logging industry to give it up. Ideally, though...

[Guest gthureson]

Quote:

 

"They believed he climbed well, but it still was his first tree sit," Davie said.

 

---

 

He climbed fine. He just needed to work on the coming down part.

 

Quote:

 

A cause of the man's fatal fall has not been determined.

 

---

 

I think Earth First! should start protesting the governments support of gravity, so stuff like this doesn't happen again.

 

Quote:

 

Davie said he acknowledges that tree sitting is dangerous, and that there is a heroic nature to putting one's body on the line to protect something. But he said all Earth First! protesters, including Naya, were given training on how to remain safe and healthy.

 

----

 

No, otherwise the first part of that training would be, "Don't sit in 50 foot trees." And I doubt 'Naya' was thinking he was a hero. I think he was thinking, "Man, this was a stupid fucking idea."

[Guest danielisthor]

Going against what i believe, the mans family should sue Earth First, for putting him in harms way. the man was untrained (i am sure there are training certificates and classes he would have to pass - OSHA requirements be damned) and should never had been in the tree at that height without safety equipment.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

If a tree hugger falls 50 feet and know one's around to here it does he make a sound?

[Guest Samurai_Goat]

Yes, actually. Sorta like a ripe melon. Or a slab of meat hitting the ground. Maybe a meat melon.

Man, a meat melon sure does sound tasty. I think that'd hit the spot right about now.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

I'm wondering if anyone heard about this hippie death -- some time ago this save-the-planet chick (I think from England) was in Africa with some group, and while taking a swim in a river/lake, a croc ate her.

 

Now she's one with the earth, or at least until the croc poops her out...

[Guest The Czech Republic]

A cause of the man's fatal fall has not been determined. He was taken by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The county coroner's office had not determined the cause of death, or the man's identity Thursday.

uh, he fell from the top of a 50-foot tree!

 

When I was little, and I would hear about somebody being pronounced dead, I always imagined some Moses-like figure standing on a chair and booming "this man is DEAD!"

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

When I was little, and I would hear about somebody being pronounced dead, I always imagined some Moses-like figure standing on a chair and booming "this man is DEAD!"

Brillant! Marney, find an appropriate picture, quick!

 

This blows away my joke, which was going to be: Sounds like he hit the ground Earth First!

 

anyway, the only part I found particularly odd (besides, you know, man falls to death from tree) was the Mean Old Mr. Logger saying that the guy was breaking the law sitting in the tree. Interesting.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"Mean Old Mr. Logger saying that the guy was breaking the law sitting in the tree. Interesting."

 

My guess is trespassing...

[Guest Anglesault]

A cause of the man's fatal fall has not been determined. He was taken by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The county coroner's office had not determined the cause of death, or the man's identity Thursday.

uh, he fell from the top of a 50-foot tree!

 

The only think I can imagine is that maybe he had a heart attack or something and died, THEN fell. I can't think of too many other causes of death.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

Remember, every time a hippie dies, another dollar is able to be made.

 

Mother nature can be cruel.

[Guest LaParkaMarka]

This blows away my joke, which was going to be: Sounds like he hit the ground Earth First!

Hahahahahah

 

Nicely done. That's so delightfully evil. La Parka's evil Master, Skeletor, would be pround.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Marney, find an appropriate picture, quick!

It will probably surprise some people to learn that I have no problems with these protesters; they are simply practicing civil disobedience. As long as they don't spike trees, resist arrest, scatter caltrops, or endanger anyone, I won't mock them for their convictions, and in fact I have some sympathy for them. Logging companies do a lot of bad things too: deliberately and systematically cutting down protected old-growth trees, failing to live up to their planting obligations, &c.

 

Besides, some of them put on stripshows and topless dances for the loggers. That's guaranteed to work, and I can't make myself object to nude women... although I'd like to put a few in handcuffs myself someday. <g>

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"Remember, every time a hippie dies, another dollar is able to be made."

 

Also remember, every time a hippie dies, another vote for Ralph Nader is lost...

[Guest MrRant]

"Remember, every time a hippie dies, another dollar is able to be made."

 

Also remember, every time a hippie dies, another vote for Ralph Nader is lost...

I always thought it was everytime a hippie dies, a bird gets its branch back.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"I always thought it was everytime a hippie dies, a bird gets its branch back."

 

Not if the hippie was sitting on it and then fell 50+ feet to his death...

[Guest the 1inch punch]

A cause of the man's fatal fall has not been determined. He was taken by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The county coroner's office had not determined the cause of death, or the man's identity Thursday.

uh, he fell from the top of a 50-foot tree!

 

When I was little, and I would hear about somebody being pronounced dead, I always imagined some Moses-like figure standing on a chair and booming "this man is DEAD!"

Thats brilliant

 

 

In the whole thing about Protestors in general, there's a new one here that I actually agree with, protestors haven taken up residence in a recently unearthed castle that s in the way of a road