The Captain Planet Squad

Captains log 1432, My name is Cebren Benson. I'm 18 years old and i'm currently a freshie at Cal State La. If your wondering who I am in the picture above lets just say im different. The transition from high school to college has been easy due to the great teachers First Year Experience (F.Y.E.) hooked me up with (Shoutout to Ms. Hernandez). My English 101 class is themed off environmental sustainability and other important topics that are directed towards our future and past as resource thriving humans. We've been learning about this through various text such as the classic book "The Lorax", Jenny Price's article "Thirteen Ways of seeing nature in La", and the California Scheming story.  One of our first activities that we recently finished was taking part in the Docweiler Beach Cleanup. The activity was real cool especially, because i had a really conversational group and it was interesting to see how all the items we found told a little story about who or what might've put the trash there. Some was too obvious, we found like 4 pairs of shoes from people who turn't up the night before. Another highlight was when everybody started walking out to clean, like it was rows of trash. I've done beach clean ups before and usually i'd be mad, because there's like 200 hundred people to like 20 pieces of trash. Those were at nicer beaches like Santa Monica and Venice is a whole different blog. There was tons of birds also which im 100 percent sure a good amount of them mistake the left over trash from the party goers for food. Im not saying theres nobody that does anything positive to the environment, but the goal right now is to make people realize that everything that they do impacts someone else and eventually comes back to them.  All this stuff falls into morality and ethics, not to say you have to be a jesus figure, but just be smart enough to stay aware. Thats all I have to say thanks for reading.


Btw, Captains log was a star trek joke. Just Saying.

Service Learning Project

On Sunday morning, October 12, 2014 I participated in a beach clean up event called "Heal The Bay." The event was with my English 101s class, we all gathered around to help clean up Dockweiler Beach, which is the officially adopted my CSULA. When we arrived at the beach we received gloves, trash bags, and tally sheets. The tally sheets were to tally up what kind of trash we found that day. For two hours my group and I walked around the beach picking up trash. What we encounter the most was cigarette bubs, plastic bags, and foam cups. We also found some strange things like socks, under shirts, and even a bra! I found the activity quite fun and felt good at the end for helping out our environment. We cleaned out three bags of trash and I feel we all made the beach look better that day. Another thing I learned from this activity was that people really do not care about all the trash they are throwing on our beach. I believe that this beach clean up really taught my classmate and I how important it is to keep our beaches and other parks clean. I hope to one day participate in another clean up! I enjoyed helping the environment!

Heal The Bay Service Learning Project

My name is Monica Morales and today I participated in a Heal the Bay activity with my CSULA English 101 class at Dockeweiler Beach. I had never actually participated in a service learning activity before so this was very new and intriguing for me. The project itself consisted of cleaning up or picking up trash items off the beach, including the parking lot and surrounding areas. We were to place all trash in a plastic bag and keep track of the types that we came across.

Perhaps I'll begin with something a bit more light-hearted. My team and myself found that beach goers can be very forgetful. We found five shoes. Some were singles. We were warned that we may encounter items a little more grotesque including but not limited to condoms and diapers. We encountered both but could not bring ourselves to pick the up even with our gloved hands. It was a lot of laughs but it also got us thinking why some of these were left behind, more specifically, why did a mother find it unnecessary to toss a diaper in one of the many trashcans along the beach after having changed her baby?

Something I found quite alarming and equally disturbing was the amount of Styrofoam cups and plates we found. I'm betting at least fifty of them. In one particular area of the beach, we found about twenty or so plates reminiscent of a night-before birthday party. The cake smeared all over them was the tell. I just thought to myself:"Did these people just finish their cake and toss the plate on the sand? Do they toss their styrofoam plates on the floor in their own home when they are through with them? Did the host say, "Hey, anyone who is done with their cake can just ...toss it I guess." Did a single soul even suggest the garbage can?" These are all questions I asked myself a few hours after the clean-up was over.

Cigarette butts, cigarette butts everywhere. I have found that today, one either hates or is apathetic towards smokers. So naturally, it can be shameful to come out as a smoker. Today, I find it necessary to tell you all that I enjoy the occasional cigarette. I feel compelled to do so because I must tell the world that we are not all the same. To my fellow smokers who enjoy a ben at the beach, or in any other public area, I have a message for you: please invest in a metal cigarette holder/container. Not only will it make one look super hip, but you can also conveniently put your ben out and leave the butt in the metal box until you reach a trashcan or ashtray. It's sad to see, especially out there on the sand. Personally, I use to just flick and go but the habit became unbearable. Today, I carry my pack in a metal container for the sake of morality and littering.

In conclusion, I had only visited Dockweiler beach on one other occasion prior to today's clean-up and one of my first impressions was the filth. There is trash all over the place, more-so than in any other beach I have been in California. More than Santa Monica I dare say. Participating in this activity today gave me a bit of comfort. Just knowing that there are people out there who care can be just a tinge helpful. A gentlemen on the beach asked me who we were and what we were doing this for. I said, " We're CSULA students and we're here for a Heal the Bay beach-cleanup." He gave us a thumbs up and said that what we were doing was great. He conclded with a simple, "Good job guys." That right there is the comfort I mentioned before.

Heal the Bay @ Dockweiler Beach cleanup

         My name is Stephanie Gutierrez and today, October 12, 2014, my class and I participated in the Heal the Bay cleanup at Dockweiler beach. Not only have I never been to this beach but I've never even heard of it so I was quite curious in how the morning would play out. After having a little bit of trouble trying to find the beach, my friend, Alicia, and I found Dockweiler beach and immediately thought that this beach was just like an ordinary beach. Soon after meeting up with the CSULA group, Alicia and I formed a group with three other girls and started to wander the beach and look for any signs of trash. Wasn't that hard to find. While we were picking up little pieces of trash and sometimes, heavy pieces, I started to think, "Are all beaches this dirty?" I mean, I've been to Santa Monica, Venice and Huntington beach and sure they all have their own bits of trash, but I just never thought it was that big of a deal cause the amount of effort to pick it up is so small. While searching the beach, we picked up a variety of different wastes, such as cigarette butts, candy wrappers, pieces of plastic, a pair of socks, shoes, and large pieces of charcoal. And some more plastic. And cigarette butts. I never really noticed, or took the time to notice how much waste is on our beaches but also how little people care about it. It's not going to stop because we don't care enough to realize what we're actually doing to nature around us. We all need to start caring just a little bit more and maybe our environment won't be so polluted and dirty. I'm glad to say Dockweiler opened my eyes a bit more to see the real problem and I'll continue to try and find the solution. 

Dockweiler Beach Clean Up

On October 12, 2014 our class participated in the Heal the Bay beach clean up at Dockweiler  Beach. The event was only two hours long. During those two hours my group collected three bags full of trash . In the group we picked up many cigarette buds, peaces of Styrofoam, empty chip bags, water bottles and pieces of clothing. It is really surprising how  so much trash can be left around the beach and nobody do anything about it. This event helped me realize that there are many careless people are out there that don't know or don't care about the trash they leave behind and the harm that it does to animals that live at the beach. The Heal the Bay was a great experience and it is something I would do again.

Heal the Bay clean up

          

   

           On Sunday, October 12, 2014 we participated with “Heal the Bay” by cleaning up Dockweiler beach. We took 2 hours out of our day to help make Dockweiler beach a better place for animals and people. During this trip my group and I found many different items that should have been thrown away in the trash. It is unbelievable to see how many trashcans there are and how they are not being used accordingly. Walking around the beach we found several cigarette buds, torn foam cups, food wrappers, clothing articles, and many plastic bags. When walking further down the beach my group and I stumble upon a pile of scattered trash near a lifeguard post. By cleaning up that pile of trash we collected 3 bags full of the trash. Cleaning the beach showed me that we take for granted many public place and we do not clean them up because they do not belong to us. We who attend these public places should be more considerate for cleaning our messes and should be more aware of the environment around us. People are not aware of the danger that they cause the animals that live in the beach and the harm that they cause people around them. In all, it was a great learning experience and we should help make this world a better place to live in by cleaning up after ourselves.

Heal the Bay clean up!

Today as a class we took two hours from our daily routine to "Heal the Bay" by cleaning up Dockweiler beach. Living so close to the beach just 10 minutes away I constantly visit it during the summer but never quite noticed how truly polluted with filth the beach really is. You would think with so many trash cans around the beach people would have the decency to pick after themselves and throw away their trash and wood after their bonfires are done. Walking on the beach we found an abundant amount of cigarette butts, plastic bags, foam paper cups, chip bags, water bottles, missing socks, just scattered around. When we walked further we discovered a pile of washed up trash on the sand, picked up almost three bag fulls which we emptied in the trash cans not far from our location. There were quite a few odd item such as two huge costco bears torn apart in the trash and a bra laying around in the sand. People should be more considerate of the animals and the harm they may be causing to the environment and clean up after themselves, just like you don't leave trash laying around at your house why would people do it anywhere else. The world is our home that we have to help sustain.