Saturday, April 28, 2018

From Kayaking to Cleaning

As someone who has kayaked and cleaned the L.A. River before it always shocks me the amount of trash (mainly plastic) that collect along the riverbed.  Since the "ban" on plastic bags there are less shopping bags in the river but the amount of plastic from food and other products remains consistent.  One reason I believe the river is home to so much trash is that very few L.A. natives are aware of the state of the river and that it actually functions like a river.  While not all of the trash comes from the city a large portion of the trash comes from street drainage that leads to the river and ultimately the ocean.  While we see "No Dumping" signs every day if you don't see where the trash goes it is merely a suggestion instead of a rule to most people.

Some changes that I have seen in the past years include the number of homeless encampments along the river.  I started doing the clean up when I was in elementary school nearly ten years ago.  Although I have not gone every year I have seen an increase in the number of homeless encampments in the river and it is a sad reminder of the poverty in L.A.  I've also seen positive changes at the river.  Since my family started doing the cleanup I have seen more wildlife and vegetation in the river and when we kayaked down sections of the river a few years ago I noticed that many fish and birds have returned to the river.  Another change, and perhaps the best one, I have seen is the amount of people that attend the river clean up.  FOLAR has done an amazing job of organizing the clean up and providing materials to all the participants.  I have at least five FOLAR t-shirts and can remember years when I was able to take two since the attendance was low.  This year the clean up was packed and it was nice to see so many people from different companies and backgrounds come together and do something good for the community.

To sum it all up the FOLAR river clean up is always a good opportunity to see a new side of L.A. and give back to the community.  The river clean up really opens your eyes to magnitude and diversity of the city and is a great way to get involved without traveling too far.

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