Miranda Gibson. Photo by Alan Lesheim.
by OLIVIA SHEAD
How far would you go for something you believed in? Would you give up your bed? Your house? Your job? Your life?
For most, dedication to a cause goes as far as chitchat over the dinner table but for Miranda Gibson, dedication means something completely different.
As I write this, Miranda has been living 60 metres up an ancient Eucalyptus tree for over seven months. She’s given up everything we take for granted, all to highlight the hidden truths of Tasmanian logging.
Miranda’s view is of untouched southern forests but the trees immediately in front of her – including the one that has been her home for so long – are under imminent threat.
Miranda is protesting against logging in Tasmania and has gone to extraordinary lengths to support her cause. She has withstood intolerable conditions of smoke haze to snow, but Miranda is not about to give up.
Mere weeks ago she broke the Australian record for the longest tree sit and she’s not planning on coming down anytime soon.
I caught up with Miranda over the phone to find out exactly what it’s like living away from civilisation and to get her answer on some pretty curious questions – like, ah, how does she go to the toilet?
1) How would you explain the cause you’re fighting for, to someone who knows nothing about it, in 30 seconds?
I’m up this tree because this area of forest is under threat from logging. It was originally meant to be included in the conservation agreement that was meant to be in place in August last year. But unfortunately that never happened.
Basically a company called Ta Ann uses this area for their wood supply demands, which has meant that a lot of areas that were meant to be protected are still under threat and still being logged. So I wanted to come up this tree and expose to the world that these forests are still under threat despite the fact that they have been verified at now world heritage and national heritage significance.
2) Do you ever have doubts that what you’re doing won’t stop the logging?
I feel that what I am doing is really important in terms of getting the word out there. Through the fact that I’m up here and have access to my computer and my phone means that I can basically communicate with people in Tasmania and around the world about the value of these forests.
That’s had a massive impact so far in the time that I’ve been up here, with a lot of people getting on board and through that there’s a lot of pressure on Ta Ann to actually come into line with the statements they’ve been making. One of the key issues is that they’re actually declaring that their products are environmentally friendly and have told customers that they’re made from plantations and managed regrowth. So it’s been really great to be up here and expose the truth.
3) Do you ever think about quitting?
Not at all. Obviously I have hard days up here and it can be quite challenging but I look out to this amazing forest and everything that I see here – the tall trees around me, the birds I see – all of it is under threat. The forest inspires me and reminds me why I’m here and strengthens my determination to stay as long as it takes.
4) Do you miss human contact?
I definitely miss spending time with my friends and family and it can get isolated and lonely. But on the other side I have got my blog online where I have been talking via skype to different events around the world and through that contact I’ve found so much support which really keeps me going.
5) How do you stay connected to the world?
I have got a solar panel and a small wind generator, which keeps my electricity going. I’m also lucky enough to be quite high on the ridge, which means I’m in line with the towers that give me phone and Internet reception. It’s such a unique opportunity to be in the middle of a forest but being connected to the world.
6) What are your living conditions like?
I basically have a small platform that is suspended to the tree and half of that has weatherproofing with a tarp over it. I have a swag for a bed and I have a whole bunch of supplies up here for food.
7) How do you go to the bathroom?
I have a simple composting toilet set up which gets sent down. Everything I need to get up or get down I send on a rope on a pulley system.
8) So you are not completely alone?
No, it takes a lot of people on the ground supporting me to keep this running. I’m very grateful for all the people who spend their time at the base of the tree who send things up and down to me.
Earlier this month Mamamia’s Managing Editor, Jamila Rizvi chatted with Today Tonight about Miranda’s campaign and discussed whether or not these sort of political stunts can actually make a difference.
To find out more about what Miranda is fighting for visit her blog here.
Olivia is a journalism student and an intern at Mamamia. A lot of her time is spent running her online vintage clothing store, which you can check out here.
How far would you be willing to go for a cause you believed in? Do you think Miranda’s campaign will make a difference?
Comments
45 Comments so far
Pingback: Aussie activist Miranda Gibson goes all out – and up – in anti-logging protest | Citizen Action Monitor
Oh ok…. Anyway…. NEXT.
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The government made a promise that that bit of bush (note: im not talking about all the trees) would be left and they didn’t keep it. Miranda is strongly highlighting the dishonesty. Imagine if a hospital told you that they would not operate and then a doctor keeps cutting stuff out of you, you’d be pissed right? Then a kid came along and said im not moving until the hospital admits it and stops the doctor cutting out stuff. That kid has great determination and is bloody great
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Ummm… Hello…
She’s been in the tree for 7 months… SEVEN months?
This is the first I’ve heard of it – am I alone in that? Have I somehow missed the media blitz coverage on this?
Will she save this tree?
Not sure.
Will she have to admit defeat either way and get the hell out of the tree one day?
Definitely.
Will she actually achieve long term change and is she being taken seriously by the people who can affect said change?
Absolutely not.
Come on people – the woman has been in a tree for SEVEN months and who’s heard of it?
She’s not impacting public or political opinion by this course of action. There are way more effective, rational and less self serving ways to achieve a positive outcome.
Step One: If you are going to sit in a tree for 7 (yes, SEVEN) months, it might be an idea to pre-plan an effective campaign to attract the nationwide attention of the public and the officials who can support your cause, recognise your efforts and affect change.
Otherwise, hell… You’re just sitting in a tree… for SEVEN months!
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There has been widespread media coverage in Tassie about this so yes, people have indeed heard about this.
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Being Tasmanian is just embarassing these days.
Yes, I am Tasmanian.
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I really admire her for being passionate about a cause and doing something about it rather than just paying lip service to it.
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most of my family, mother , grandparents, aunts and uncles, live in Tasmania. While I wasn’t born there ( just missed the boat back, mum said , and was born in Melbourne) , I have lived there for awhile ago. Tasmania is the most beautiful state in Australia in my opinion. the land is so lush and green. the old growth forests have been there for centuries. why, why ,why, would we want to log them to make PLYWOOD of all things. This is a Maylasian company that is wanting to log these areas. Are we just going to sit by and let every company, who pays the right price, have unrestricted access to every thing this country has to offer. When are we going to learn that once everything’s been mined, everything’s been logged, everything’s been stripped bare, that we can’t eat money.
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unrestricted access? Who says any logging company has ‘unrestricted access’. A bit less emotive language, a bit more facts about sustainable logging please. Or would you rather we replace timber with steel in all housing and furniture. What amount of C02 is involved in the manufacture of that much additional steel I wonder.
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hello, wasn’t just talking about the logging companys, anonymous. this is just my opinion piece in case you hadn’t noticed. Instead of acting like a parasite, and attaching yourself to other peoples comments and picking them to pieces, write your own post and tell us all about it.
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settle petal.
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I’d like to know where her financial support comes from? Am I, as a taxpayer, subsidizing her protest? I do not support the Greens in this state. I believe they do more harm than good for the balanced progress and growth that Tasmania requires to thrive. This place is stagnating!
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I’d say it would come from family and friends and supporters , don’t you.
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Miranda is not on the dole nor receiving any other form of government financial assistance. She is a trained teacher, currently LWOP and receives financial support from donations, etc. So don’t worry, your tax dollars are safe.
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What a fantastic way to get rid of loopy greenies, send them up very high trees for months on end. It is only a shame that the platform she has constructed for her self is no doubt slowly destroying the tree she loves so much.
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and all the trees that have protest signs nailed on to them. Been there done that, was amused ( & shocked) at the amount of litter the protesters forgot to put in bins at their campsite.
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What about balance? In an ideal world not a single tree would be logged but we live in a world where people use/demand wood products and these need to sourced from somewhere. It says Miranda aims “to highlight the hidden truths of Tasmanian logging”, like what? That over 40 per cent of Tasmanian’s land mass is already protected forests, that those forests that are being logged are being done so in a more sustainable way than anywhere else in the world?
I can never quite understand why Greenies want to shut down Australia’s/Tasmania’s logging industry, but do nothing to slow the demand for wood products, thereby forcing us to source wood from international markets such as those in south east asia where sustainable practices don’t exist and we hear stories of whole rain-forests being logged. Surely, it would be better to have some balance, where we do protect some forests but also allow others to be logged so we keep this industry in Australia where we can be sure that any logging is done with the best sustainable practices and we don’t get into a situation where we are importing wood logged from Malaysian rain forests.
An interesting side point…. the Greens say that forests in Tasmania (and elsewhere) have been destroyed forever and that those that are left must be protected. Yet a couple of years ago, 28-year-old regrowth forests in Tas that had been regrown from clear-fell logging and burn operations were claimed by the Greens as high conservation value forests that should be protected. The inconsistencies in the arguments is ridiculous. How can they claim on the one had that forestry management in Tasmania is so bad and then claim that forests that have been logged/regrown are now of high conservation value? Just crazy. But it does show that forestry management in Tasmania is of such a high standard that they are regenerating high conservation value forests.
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iAmandaroseI don’t think they want all logging to stop- just that that has already been promised to be protected as it is of great significance. Have you been there? To those old untouched forests? I think you would feel differently if you had. Those forests are as beautiful and important as Uluru and The great barrier reef and need protecting.
Plenty of other sustainable forests to log- and if your making wood chips- you don’t need to take the best of 400 year old forests for that.
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The ecosystems that are destroyed when the clearfelling and burning takes place don’t just re-grow, they are gone forever. I love seeing people actually standing up for what they believe in and following through with their actions. If it wasn’t for the Greens in Tasmania that state would’ve been raped and pillaged by foreign companies to go make their own paper with but judging from most of the comments on this thread most of you wouldn’t give a crap anyway.
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So inspiring. I love the comment about being alone but connected. I think a lot of people can relate to that. Great interview Olivia x
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that takes guts and courage..good on you Miranda! doesn’t bother me how you do your ablutions etc..it’s just wonderful that you believe in your cause and are prepared to fight for it..
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If more people took the time to educate themselves about the current state of the planet, and where it’s likely to end up if we continue our present course, there would be no question about why Miranda is doing this. The only question would be ‘how can I support her?’. Future generations will ask why we did not do more to save precious wild places (like the forests of the Styx, Weld and Florentine Valleys) while we had the chance. And to the Huon resident – an old growth forest that takes minimum 1000 years to develop is not a renewable resource in terms of the length of a human lifetime. Let alone biodiversity, watershed, and carbon sequestering services. We can’t buy what nature gives us for free. Let’s not stuff it up, for our own sakes and the planets’.
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Exactly! Well said.
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Hey Olivia
Good luck with your studies! Great to see MM letting you spread your wings a bit here. I remember the ‘good’ old days when doing an internship meant nothing but photocopying and making coffee (nothing wrong with doing the hard yards, people- we’ve all done it… but I think it’s kind of awesome that MM is a platform that allows freelancers, individuals with a story- who aren’t writers, and even interns the opportunity to add their voice to the conversation).
10 thumbs up to MM
and another one just for Olivia (hope that doesn’t sound patronising).
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It doesn’t sound like she has given much up? She has an online business, a computer, phone and Skype – and supplies – sounds like another day in any office… I think I would rent a tree if it had all that!
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What a belittling and ignorant comment.
I’m sure she’s revelling in the luxury of it all.
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Why was my comment deleted?
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I think the issue of forestry needs to be balanced. Wood is a sustainable resource and way better for the environment than other materials so please publish her opinion as you have but the other side of the debate would also be good. I enjoy this site but it does seem to have a green agenda at times. Just my two cents anyway.
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I actually liked your post accidentally as my page refreshed. However, I do wonder what you think the other side to a story like this is?
I personally wonder what people who use the term ‘green agenda’ are thinking about the environmental issues we are facing today. I don’t understand how it could be an ‘issue’ that can be classified with an opinion. It simply is: We are using up resources we cannot possibly replace as fast as they are destroyed. A tree is not simply a tree. It is a part of a larger ecosystem, which in turn supports another larger ecosystem, and so on and so forth, and results in the planet earth’s ecosystem. I have studied biology. I get this.
So, if you wouldn’t mind…please explain what the other side of the story could be? I truly am interested in having you explain this way that you understand this ‘issue’ of destroying old growth forests.
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At this point in time, “the green agenda” is not very popular, so maybe articles like this are bringing some balance to a media that is generally unfriendly to “the green agenda”.
I support sustainable logging in areas set aside for it and contained within those boundaries, but not old growth forest logging.and certainly not for chipboard (if that’s true).
I know therefore need to be a compromise for Tasmanians economic sake, but for Gods sake leave the old growth forests alone.
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I actually live in the Huon Valley, pretty much at the forefront of where all this debate and discussion occurs regarding the old growth forests. It would be great to see a story written from the perspective of the people who’s lives and livliehoods have been affected by these ‘peaceful protests’. I have seen and heard of so many families moving away, losing there jobs because of what is happening here. There seems to be so much publicity regarding the stances that people are going to protect the forests, but what about the flip side of that? There is such a big domino effect that has hit the local community, and stretching all around Tasmania hard because of how much the forestry industry has suffered. I am all for conserving forests and protecting what needs to be protected, but how much of the truth is actually being put out there for people to hear? Miranda says that “it’s nice to be up here and expose the truth”…is this truth misguided?
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It’s hard to prioritise where peoples livelihoods need to be considered against environmental or health impacts. The thing is, sometimes the livelihoods of one group are going to require modification, change or sacrifice to achieve a posititive outcome for the majority.
A lot of people would need to find a new source of work if cigarettes could no longer be produced, but in time, millions of people would be saved from smoking related disease and death. Slowly, we need to modify and adjust the way we do things to protect the resources we have and the environment that makes our world an inspiring and beautiful place to live. Sure, I feel bad for you if not logging historic forests leaves you with absolutely no means of an income or future, but having travelled to countries much poorer than Australia, I’ve seen that if you have the will to work, some determination, you can make opportunities for yourself no matter what you have. All the best for the future.
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A wonderful book that introduced me to Miranda Gibson is called Into the Woods, The Battle for Tasmania’s Forests’ by Anna Krien. This gives such an informative and clear insight into what is really happening inTasmania’s forests and absolutely worth reading. Go Miranda!
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* why doesN’T Today Tonight canvass the real reasons Miranda is up the tree, that should read.
For Mamamia readers who deserve to know, Miranda is up the tree because Ta Ann is a Malaysian company who are logging Tasmania’s old growth forests to make PLYWOOD! Forests that were put aside for heritage/conservation but political delay has allowed them to be logged. So I think readers are intelligent enough to know the full story beyond “what she eats and how she poos”. So patronizing when the true cause is so critical. Shame on Today Tonight.
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Plywood??? FFS!
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The Today tonight report covers what she eats, how she poos and how she showers. Oh and the great risk she’s at being up a tree that could “snap off”! What about the 400 y.o tree being at risk of being cut down? I think Miranda has assessed the risk, thats why she’s up there – to raise awareness and a save the trees! Why on earth does the Today Tonigh report canvass the real reasons Miranda is campaigning for. No wonder the general public are disappointingly uninformed. If this is “journalism” we are all doomed.
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Really what else would you expect from Today Tonight?
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How on earth does she survive the Tasmanian winter?
Good on her for taking a stance. Sadly, I don’t think she will change anyone’s minds.
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How far would you go for something you believe in?
I don’t think Miranda nearly goes far enough.
Do you think that meaningful, long lasting change will be inspired by someone who lives in a tree? Serious and important environmental issues are done a great disservice by people like Miranda. I don’t believe you’ll convince a majority or persuade the average person on the street that environmental issues are important from the ideological fringe?
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I think she is achieving a lot by being on”the fringe” by raising attention in the non fringe of tihs important issue. Action can take many forms: protest, being part of the representative democratic process, writing letters to the paper, donating time and money etc. They are complementary and all needed to effect change.
what do you think would be better?
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Unfortunately Cyndi, I think she makes it too easy for critics to dismiss her as literally ‘a tree hugging hippy’. The awareness she’s raising is getting distorted by the freak show of ‘how does she go to the toilet?’
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I think she is achieving a lot by being on”the fringe” by raising attention in the non fringe of this important issue. Action can take many forms: protest, being part of the representative democratic process, writing letters to the paper, donating time and money etc. They are complementary and all needed to effect change.
what do you think would be better?
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I think she is achieving a lot by being on”the fringe” by raising attention in the non fringe of this important issue. Action can take many forms: protest, being part of the representative democratic process, writing letters to the paper, donating time and money etc. They are complementary and all needed to effect change.
what do you think would be better?
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Great article Olivia, good luck with your studies!!!
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention – I love Tasmania and I plan on going there again this Christmas and will go on some nature walks etc. It’s just such a treasure.
I’ll be joining and supporting Miranda’s blog.
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Tasmania’s forests are the most magical in the world. When I left Tasmania I was so home sick for so long for raw beauty and untouched wildness. I have never met a place that compares.
I am getting teary thinking about it now actually. I can see a Tassie road trip coming up.
The logging is a nasty scar on a beautiful landscape.
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