Hi my name is Alex Juarez and today was a good experience because it's something not most of us kids do on a Saturday. I was actually looking forward to this trip because i knew I would feel good being able to clean the la river, which I've been living around my whole life. When I first started thinking about the LA river, I thought it was just a river that brought our dirty water to the ocean. Now I know that it's a river that was meant for nature and us humans. The river is good for nature because if there was clean water in the river all the time, birds can live there and the water can help us to either drink it or to help our drought. There are many reasons why it's important to clean and I think this is a good first step for people like me who hasn't done much with the environment. If I had an opportunity to do this again I would love too. I was able to really see what the la river has and it reminds me of the mountain rivers that me and my family would go to to swim but this water is really low and seems more dirty, it has a lot of rocks and trees. Some trees look nice because there green, but others are ruined by the trash that has taken over most of the plants. Everyone that cleaned today helped some of the water and plants be more healthier. Today was a good exsperiance and I learned a lot. 

Hello my name is Brinna De La Rosa.Today April 18,2015 i was apart of the 26th Annual Friends of the LA river (FOLAR) clean up. when i got there i did not know what to expect so i just found my own way then i caught up with the others to get our snacks and tools what i liked was that there was a really cool band playing there the music they were playing i really liked it made the event much more exciting!. Going to this event was actually my first time going to the LA river i had seen the LA river before but never actually visted the river so it was exciting.I was expecting for the river to be dry with trash everywhere and no nature, but i was wrong there was not that much trash as i had expected but there was alot of plastic bags around trees this made me think about the plastic trash bags that i use at home i see now that it is really bad for the enviorment.There was also lots of nature to be found at the river! the water was not the cleanest but there were ducks swimming around and birds flying around lets not forget the rocks! lots of rocks everywhere i almost fell walking over them as i was walking i saw a single morning glory flower it looked so beautiful and unique because there was dirt everywhere and just a single flower made the river look that much beautiful. It was really hot today but i had lots of fun visiting the river and helping the enviorment for one day i know made a big differnce. This event relates to a book that i am reading in my English 101 class the book is called No Impact Man by Colin Beaven the book is about  colin (the author) going a year without making no impact to the enviorment.I cannot see myself doing this as many people would probaly not be up for something like that for a year but seeing today how dirty the river water was made me think that we all need to change if we want to save what we have of the river.

LA River CLean Up: Helping The Environment

Hello everyone, my name is Manuel Velazquez. This Saturday, I spent my morning helping the environment by attending a LA River Clean Up for my English 101 class. It was a great experience for me to have helped clean up our LA River. My partner Andy, and I collected lots of trash. We collected glass bottles, plastic plates, and many other things. I knew that the LA River was dirty to the stories I had heard previously. Seeing it for myself was a whole other experience. There was much more trash than I had expected there to be at the river. While cleaning the river, I saw two students carrying a trashed car seat! Despite all the trash there was, some areas of the river had beautiful views. The view, and sound of the river helped me think, and unwind. I personally like the sound of nature, its something very beautiful. It was a great experience to help make our LA River cleaner. It's not something I get to do often, which is what made today a very special day.

Hello my name is Karina and I would like to share my experience on a little field trip I took to the LA River prior to my English 101 class.  It was actually my first time going to the LA River, so it was exciting to see what the river was like. I was anxious about going to the river since it was my first time and actually doing something good for the community as well. Taking a walk at the river and picking up trash was something new to me. I got to see and understand how we affect our beautiful 

environment around us and how we let it go to damage. Going to the L.A River was a good experience after all. Doing a positive thing for nature & the community. 

Heal the Bay Beach Cleanup Winter 2015

Hello my name is Erick, and I would like to share the experience I had at Dockweiler Beach with my English 101 class. For starters, i'm not a morning person, so waking up and getting there was a challenge in itself. I was beyond groggy in the morning but once we hit the beach sand, I was wide awake and alert. The beach is a beautiful place and it shouldn't be as dirty as it was when we went to go clean up. After picking up one bag of trash we found items that I was definitely not expecting. It ranged from styrofoam to three bottles of Corona's. All in all, I encourage everyone to make the attempt to do your part and to go to a beach near you and clean it up !

Sunday Beach Cleanup at Dockweiler Beach

Going to the beach is a place where people go to relax, have a good time with their loved ones, or simply go get at tan. Unfortunately, that has changed over the years because today our beaches are infested with trash. There’s is nobody to blame but us, we haven’t taken the proper measures to clean our trash and for that reason our beaches are the ones who suffer the consequences. Although it may seem like there is nobody taking action, we have wonderful programs like Heal the Bay that care for our environment and connect communities to help out and do their part to cure the environment. Teaching us that one person can’t save nor protect our environment, but they teach us that we as individuals need to do our part and together we can make a difference to our planet. So I, Arturo Gonzalez, a simple student in English 101 have the power to take care of our planet. So I had the honor to do my part this past Sunday in Dockweiler Beach. Our class joined forces with Heal the Bay in a beach cleanup. Although, the cleanup was a bit difficult because it was early, hot, and especially on a Sunday but at the end you felt a sense of reward because I know I did my part.  Finally, I learned that I did this, not because I had to but because I wanted to have my beaches clean. At the end we all like clean beaches……Right!?

Heal the Bay

This past Sunday my English 101 class participated in Heal the Bay, an organization that helps clean the beach. I had an amazing experience. Before, I came into this English class I was not aware of any of these organizations that help the planet except the few that are always on commercials or poster boards along the freeway. When I arrived we were put into groups and given a bag. As I walked along the beach picking up trash I was astonished by how much trash my group collected and imagining that other groups might have picked up more. There was so much trash such a cigarette butts, plastic plates, and a lot of broken glass. Even though the picture I provided above might be clean and pretty not all beaches look like this without organizations or people that picked up or dispose of their trash correctly. This experience has seriously changed my view on how we get rid of our trash.