The Great Los Angeles River Cleanup!

On Saturday Morning, April 18th I attend a event to clean Los Angeles River. Let me began by saying how it was a super great experience. I don't live around the LA River, but when driving to this event, I realize that I pass by it everyday while on my way to school. This experience was great, I was able to interact with different new people who came from different cities just to clean the river. I also made a new friend there. All of this together added up to an amazing experience. I've always done community service when there is a chance but I have never heard of cleaning the river till "FOLAR" came up. When I got there I saw a lot of people; half of this people where students and the other half were people who gave up their Saturday morning to come clean the river. The FOLAR organization people provide every single person with gloves and trash bags all we had to do was pick trash. As the morning continued everyone got into groups and began cleaning, this is when I met my new buddy. We started walking around the rocks picking up trash we saw. At first the weather was nice but after walking for a while, it began to get hot and everyone was sweating, but this was not an obstacle to keep us from cleaning. Their were a few interesting things we saw, for example white flowers and a purple one but were hiding under need the trash. We also found pieces of plastic, pieces of metal and even an old rug. At this point I was shocked by all the trashed that was in the river. I couldn't believed all sources of things that were found in the river. It was really sad seeing that our river is not clean, that we can't even see some nature because it has been cover with trashed.  Most of the  trash in the river is what people throw out on the streets and it gets washed into the river and no one ever sees the damage it causes. After two hours of walking, we all went back to where we met and there I saw all this huge bags full of trash. We all gather with our group and talked about the interesting things we found.  After everything I can say that this experience made an impacted on me; how dirty some people can be. I not only went to the river for the first time but also made a new friend. It was a fun experience. I look forward attending next year.                                             

                      

LA River Clean Up!

Hello my name is Joceline Alvarado. On Saturday April 18,2015 I attended the 26th Annual Friends of the LA River Clean Up (FOLAR). When I got there I saw a lot of people in groups and I was kinda  lost because I didn't have a group or anything but after I made new friends and that was what it was all about. This was my very first time going to the LA river but I have done similar things of cleaning up the environment. Cleaning up the LA River was insane I found plenty of things I would think like why are they here. One thing me and my new buddies found was a huge heavy rug and I thought why is this even here and how did it even get there. I also found a lot of metal like a spoon and other kinds of metals. I actually thought the LA river didn't have nature at all. I thought it was dry like a lot of people would say. But we were all wrong well I was wrong because there is water and there is plenty of nature. Obviously the water is not that clean as we expected but at least we have water. I also found something very interesting a purple flower. I found it weird how there was a lot of rocks and bushes and trees but I just saw that one flower and it was beautiful as you can see above. The weather was crazy on Saturday it was really hot but that didn't make us stop to clean and help the environment  we kept cleaning. I had a lot of fun and made new friends which is great. If you guys have the chance you should really help the environment like in the book the Lorax we don't really think about how bad the environment can get we just care for ourselves like the Onceler is doing is ruining the enviroment and caring for himself and the Lorax is running everyone away because they are all dying and have no reason to be there anymore. We should all change and help the enviroment whatever way possible! 

Friends of Los Angeles River CleanUp

A Grain of Sand

Hello dear reader, my name is Edwin Lugo and I've encountered an opportunity to help ourselves by helping the environment. Doing such small task can result in a big impact when everyone comes together and collaborates in a project. Cleaning can be an overwhelming task specially when we're out there when the sun strikes the hardest, but everything that is worth it will always have a challenge to it. Water is one of the most important resource nature can give us because it helps us stay healthy and alive, by polluting our water we are putting our own health at risk because all of this water is being recycled for our use. If no one takes action by doing something positive our surroundings will only get worse with all of the pollution, that is why I think it's important for everyone to do something small for our community and start being aware of our current situation. Not only will this help us think more about our actions that might affect our water but it will also raise awareness so that others start caring also.

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.