Daryl Hannah Discusses Jail Time for Defending LA Garden

Daryl Hannah is a green celebrity that really lives up to the hype. She’s not one of those celebs who claim eco-friendly habits to look good and then turn around and fly in private jets all over the world and drive 13 different gas-guzzling SUVs. On the contrary, Hannah lives on a sustainable farm in Colorado, drives a car powered by biodiesel and has joined activism efforts to save whales, trees and an urban farm in LA.

For the latter effort, Hannah was rewarded with jail time. She’s speaking out about it now to the UK’s Sunday Mail (via Ecorazzi):

She was arrested in June 2006 after chaining herself to a walnut tree to prevent the bulldozing of urban farmland in South Central Los Angeles.

She said: “For 14 years people had been growing their food there and the land was being bulldozed to make another warehouse.  I had not planned to stay – I didn’t even have a sleeping bag – but when I found out about their plight I couldn’t leave.  I stayed for three weeks and when they got their eviction notice I decided I would lay my body on the line. This was something of great beauty and inspiration that was worth fighting for. I knew being arrested was a possibility but I decided to stay and I think I was in jail for eight or 10 hours.

It was not pleasant – the cell was tiny – but I was not worried for myself, I was concerned about what was happening at the farm. I would absolutely do it again, in a heartbeat. I was not in any way ashamed.

I was proud of what I did. Sometimes you have to say that something like this is insane and you have to put yourself on the line to try to stop it.”

It’s always refreshing to see celebrities put their vanity aside and do something because they truly feel it is the right thing to do. It’s sad that the farm got bulldozed, but Hannah and the other activists who fought for it did their best.

Link [Sunday Mail] via [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Dhlovelife.com

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