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I rejected a job in insurance to live in a tree.
‘I rejected a job in
Kate Bonner, 32, from Dorset, became a tree protester in | ||||||
| ‘I had always done what my | house out of pallets lashed to a | |||||
| parents expected of me, studying | tree. At night, the houses rocked | |||||
| hard and going to university. | and creaked like boats, but it felt | |||||
| Afterwards, I could either follow the | incredibly [id:81191]n though | |||||
| 5 | career path they wanted, or break | 60 | I was 30ft up in the air. | |||
| out and do something more |  | |||||
| positive. | ||||||
| ‘I had just been offered a job in | ||||||
| insurance, which promised good | ||||||
| 10 | pay and prospects. My parents | |||||
| wanted me to take it, but | ||||||
| I disagreed with the ethics of the | ||||||
| industry. | ||||||
| ‘I’d heard of a tree-protest site | ||||||
| 15 | near where I lived at the time, in | |||||
| Guildford, Surrey. The council was | ||||||
| planning to widen a road and build | ‘One day, a passing motorist in | |||||
| a huge incinerator in the middle of | a big, flash car saw me washing | |||||
| a housing estate. After watching | my face in a bowl and yelled: “Get | |||||
| 20 | coverage on the local news, | a bath!” He probably saw me as | ||||
| I decided that I wanted to make a | 65 | some dirty crusty. | ||||
| difference. Although I had never | ‘Everyone found their natural | |||||
| protested about anything before, | roles. My job was to get wood and | |||||
| this felt like the right thing to do. | water. When we needed food, we | |||||
| 25 | ‘When I told my parents I was | hitched into town. A lot of our | ||||
| planning to become a protester, | 70 | supplies came from supermarket | ||||
| they were deeply disappointed. | skips at the back of the | |||||
| They care about the environment, | supermarket. On the day we heard | |||||
| but believe the right way to get | the protest had been successful, | |||||
| 30 | things changed is to go through | loads of police and council | ||||
| your local councillor or to write to | 75 | members showed up and the | ||||
| your MP. But, at 23, I was full of | atmosphere was amazing. | |||||
| determination. | ‘Next, I moved to a site at | |||||
| ‘It was a cold winter’s morning | Lyminge Forest, Kent, where we | |||||
| 35 | when I left. There was only one | eventually stopped a holiday | ||||
| person awake on the site. He told | 80 | village being built on 440 acres of | ||||
| me they needed long wooden | woodland. By then, I was a bit fed | |||||
| beams for building tree houses so, | up with the hardships, and I was | |||||
| with £60 in my pocket, I went to the | missing my family. | |||||
| 40 | nearest reclamation yard. | ‘I had no regrets about moving | ||||
| ‘I arrived like Father Christmas | 85 | on. I felt I had made a difference, | ||||
| with this truckload of wood and | and experienced a freedom most | |||||
| said, “Can I stay?” | people only dream about. I would | |||||
| ‘I was there for the next seven | never have got such satisfaction | |||||
| 45 | months. There were about 50 | from selling insurance policies. | ||||
| people on the site. Many, like me, | 90 | ‘I now help run a children’s | ||||
| were from comfortable, middle- | nursery at an education centre in | |||||
| class homes. We went from | Dorset, where I am surrounded by | |||||
| ordinary, mainstream lives to a | beautiful countryside and people | |||||
| 50 | very basic, communal lifestyle. My | who believe in an organic, | ||||
| parents would not visit me on site | 95 | sustainable lifestyle. My | ||||
| and, for the next four years, we | relationship with my parents has | |||||
| lived separate lives with occasional | come full circle and we are now | |||||
| phone calls to each other. | much closer than ever before.’ | |||||
| 55 | ‘I built my own very simple tree | |||||