People Who Made Tree Their Permanent Home

Human beings are the most complicated creatures in the universe.  We all have different wishes and different taste for adventures. Most people have got to make decisions that is beyond a normal human imagination. Some people have the ambition of living in other planets, some wish they could continue their life living under sea or oceans, others on tree tops. However, as it has turned out, some of these wishes have actually been realized for many. 

Below are some people that have made tree their permanent abode. 

                                                      Photo credit: khsu.org

In 1997, Julia Butterfly Hill climbed to the top of a 1,000-year-old redwood tree that was 55 meters tall (180 ft). She climbed that treacherous height to tree-sit for one week to protest the clear-cutting of an ancient redwood forest.

It ended up being 738 days before she touched ground again. She remained in that tree despite terrifying storms and constant harassment from helicopters, loggers, and security guards sent by the Pacific Lumber Company.

For two years, she watched in horror as the forest surrounding her treetop dwelling was destroyed. Clear-cutting is the fastest and cheapest way to harvest timber. Once a tree is chopped down, the area is burned with napalm and sprayed with herbicides. Afterward, the tree is replanted, but environmental scientists agree that this practice permanently damages the area.

Hill said, “It’s like sitting there and watching your family killed. You listen for hours . . . a high-pitched screaming that goes right through your body. And when they stop the chainsaws and pound the wedges, you can feel it.”

Many people do not know that the ancient redwoods are not protected. Through her civil disobedience, Julia Butterfly Hill inspired activists around the world.

Hill finally came down after the Pacific Lumber Company agreed to preserve 61 meters (200 ft) of the old-growth forest around the tree’s perimeter. In exchange, the logging company received $50,000 that had been raised by Hill’s supporters.

Luxurious Tree House Community

                                                        Photo credit: costarica.org

In the heart of the Costa Rican rain forest lies 600 pristine acres with 40 solar-powered tree houses. Finca Bellavista is Shangri-La suspended in the trees.

It began with Matt Hogan and Erica Andrews saving that plot of land from being harvested for its timber. From there, an eco-conscious community was born for the young at heart. Hogan sa, “You’re completely immersed in nature, you go to bed listening to the bugs and the frogs, and you wake up with birdsong.”

The homes are all built among the trees. Some exist on stilts of locally grown teak, and others use the trees as anchors. The most impressive, however, are fully arboreal homes built above the oldest trees with the deepest root systems. The on-site botanist needs to approve these, of course. El Castillo Mastate was approved, and now it stands 27 meters (90 ft) aboveground.

Finca Bellavista prides itself on being “the world’s first planned, sustainable tree house development.” The tree houses are only accessible through an intricate series of zip lines, suspension bridges, and a lengthy system of hiking trails. While some may complain about the mosquitoes and the difficulties of being off the grid, others are intrigued by this rapidly growing industry of luxury tree house living.

Self-Reliant Nick Weston

                                                 Photo credit: newstatesman.com

By 2050, 66 percent of the world’s population is predicted to reside in cities. For some, city life just isn’t a fulfilling way to live. Nick Weston wrote, “I took stock of my London lifestyle and decided a change was in order.”

He was fed up working at a job he despised and paying sky-high prices for food and rent. He had the wild dream of being self-reliant and living more in tandem with nature. So he began work on a project that was more closely aligned with his values.

Weston resided in the woods of Ashdown Forrest for six months. His survival depended on gathering some staple herbs and hunting rabbit, pigeon, and eel. Atop an English oak, he constructed a one-bedroom tree house complete with all-natural, recycled materials (most of which he found dumpster-diving).

He even had a wood-burning stove that he made from a 208-liter (55 gal) steel drum. Weston said, “The tree house was a symbol for rekindling the spirit of the child within, recapturing the days when there were few worries, and anything seemed possible.”

Weston’s tiny tree house living may be part of a larger movement of youth that is renouncing material success and looking toward experiences for fulfillment.

Tree House Villages In The Forests Of Germany

For six consecutive years, there’s been a small tree house village in the Hambach Forest near the German-Belgian border. The forest is 12,000 years old, and it’s being eradicated because of coal mining.

The forest was bought by RWE, a powerful energy company, in the late 1970s. Since then, 90 percent of the Hambach Forest has been cut down. It used to be the size of Manhattan.

Activists have been trying to fight RWE. Their protest camp consists of dozens of connected tree house villages with affectionate names like “Lazytown” and “Cozytown.” The tree houses may appear rudimentary. But they are actually very effective and provide a communal atmosphere.

Most of the tree houses run on solar electricity and even have Internet. Furthermore, they are only accessible by rope and ladder so that RWE cannot cut down the trees. They have occupied the treetops since 2012 and use the tree houses as “living barricades.”

Sadly, in September 2018, the camp began to be forcibly dismantled and people were evicted from their beloved tree homes. Eviction was halted, however, when journalist Steffen Meyn fell from a suspension bridge and died. The fate of the tree-sitters and the Hambach Forest hangs precariously in the balance.

Lumberjack Jim Allen

                                             Photo credit: interestingengineering.com

In the 1930s, Jim Allen, a lumberjack by trade, found himself alone in the redwood forest of California during a turbulent storm. He managed to take refuge by hiding in the burned-out trunk of a giant redwood.

He was overwhelmed with gratitude for the tree’s protection. He figured that no house could be as good as the genuine thing. So he purchased a fallen tree from the local lumber company and set out to carve out his home from the source.

The tree was 4 meters (14 ft) wide at the stump and 81 meters (267 ft) tall. With the help of one other man, Allen hand-carved a three-room home and lived there for seven years.

From the outside, it looks just like a felled tree. Inside, it’s as cozy as can be. They sanded down the interior walls by hand and used a clear varnish to emphasize the redwood’s natural grain. Power was even installed in the 1940s, and a fridge was added.

Allen’s Original Redwood Log House is much the same as it always was. It resides along the highway as a tourist attraction in the small town of Garberville in Northern California. For a small fee, you can walk through Jim Allen’s masterpiece.

Barefoot Nomad Mick Dodge

Mick Dodge has been living off the grid for almost 30 years in the Hoh Rain Forest of the Pacific Northwest. Dodge lives inside a variety of mossy tree stumps as he wanders around. He says, “There’s not a better bedroom in the world!” And he never dreams of a normal life.

He wakes up every morning and forages for his breakfast. He’s also a scavenger. So he’ll eat roadkill or an elk killed by a mountain lion, for example. A lot of his free time is spent reading. If he likes the book, he’ll plant a tree and share the book. If he doesn’t believe in its value, he’ll plant a tree anyway. But he’ll use the book as toilet paper or fire starter.

He calls himself a “barefoot nomad” because he doesn’t wear shoes. His feet are covered in intricate tattoos of a root system. He says, “My feet became my map. My feet became my compass. When you step out of your shoes, your senses come more online. You’ve got over 200,000 nerves in the feet.”

Although it took a lot of convincing, he agreed to have his lifestyle filmed for National Geographic in a show called “The Legend of Mick Dodge.” When he’s asked what people will think of him after the show airs, he replies, “I have no