LA River Clean Up

Hello my name is Ricardo Toro, this past weekend my class and I cleaned up LA River. At first I wasn't all to pumped up about going to la river to clean up. For one I was sore and didn't want to step a food always from my bed. I decided to go to this trip because why not give back to mother nature? Mother nature has provided us with so many thing, like fruits and vegetables. So why not clean her up. While I was cleaning up LA river i found numerous of things such as medical marijuana capsules, Cloths, Tends, credit cards, even condoms. It was a very tiring experience but it was all worth it. Seeing a lot of people come together and help each other out to help clean up LA river was a nice vibe to have. Free snacks were provided which made the trip a lot more worth it because I had no breakfast, I diffidently see myself going to another event to help clean up mother nature in the near future.    

Los Angeles River Clean-up

Hello, I am Stephanie Cortes currently taking English 101 Section 19. On April 18, 2015, my English class and I went on a field trip to participate in the clean-up of the Los Angeles River. Though it seems a little irrelevant as to why would an English class participate in this activity, this trips actually ties the theme to our class. For the past few weeks, my class has been studying and reading a series of articles and books about the environment. As a person who loves learning about the environment and contributing to it, I was entirely ecstatic about this experience. I decided to bring my boyfriend along to get him to understand why littering is so hazardous because I always catch him endlessly and carelessly littering. After a few hours of being in the hot and dry weather, it was immensely shocking at all of the litter we collected and saw in under 2 hours. I was disgustingly repulsed and just aggravated with what I had witnessed. There were large amount of trash bags and plastic bags deeply entangled in nearly all of the plants and trees, bottles, plastic cups/bottles, lighters, cigarette buds and empty packs, and empty bags of chips. On a more shocking note, there were a few interesting things that we didn't expect to find there such as a large portion of a brick wall, a golf ball, a large car mat, a pool cleaner pole, a blanket, and a large hose. Furthermore, this was a rewarding and educational experience that doesn't only apply to the "books" but is also a life-long experience. I'm definitely looking forward to not only participating in future clean-up events, but as well as picking up litter wherever I go because it truly makes an impact to the environment.

L.A River Clean Up

Hello my name is Anthony Castellano, and this past Saturday was truly an eye opening experience. It is crazy to know how badly we treat our only water resource. Cleaning it however did bring me a little joy knowing I'm making a difference. However once a year is probably not enough if we are polluting it every day afterward. All the years that I have been in L.A I didn't think to visit places where we can enjoy nature. It was probably because I didn't think nature really existed besides parks and maybe beaches. I'm curious to know what else I've missed about L.A. Anyways going back to the river clean up, I'm glad I went it made me re think about nature in L.A

Me and the hommie ric

The L.A. River Clean-up

Hello my name is Estefany Navarrete and on Saturday April 18th I attended the Los Angeles River Cleanup as part of an assignment for my English 101 class. When I got to the river I was shocked to see that from up close it actually did look like a river. I would always pass by there when I'm on the freeway but it would look more like a sewer than a river. I brought my dad, two little sisters, and my best friend to the cleanup because they were curious and they wanted to see the river up close. It was just nice to have my family and best friend there helping me and giving back to the community. Overall being part of the group that gathered up to clean the river was a huge honor because I got to do something, not just for the community but for the whole planet. It feels so good to be able to do something for the environment, we take so much from mother nature that it was time to give back. This has been a learning experience, I learned that most of the trash that was found in the river was plastic. It surprised me the amount of plastic that was up in the trees and in the water, it literally felt like every five minutes I was  picking up a plastic bag or bottle, it was crazy. I realized that plastic is evil because it can harm the animals that live in the river and they can easily die. There was other types materials that we found near the river like; fishing polls, torn clothing, suit cases etc... Seeing bags and bags of trash pile up made me realize how much we hurt the environment by being careless and not picking up after ourselves. I can relate to this to the Onceler because he is a selfish and greedy person, he just takes and takes and releases bad chemicals to the environment that is killing the nature and homes of the animals. I had so much fun this was such a great experience and I had fun. I would really like to this again.

L.A. River Clean-Up

Hi my name is Jenny Ngo. On Saturday April 18, 2015, I had the chance to volunteer with some of my classmates in my English 101 class. At first I thought this would be a long and boring event, but it turns out to be very interesting! Throughout the day, I found some interesting trash that wondered into the L.A. River. I saw some people picking up blankets, pillows, shopping carts, duffel bags, carpets and of course empty snacks bag and bottles. Those are things I never thought I would find at the river. I was expecting clear water, some wildlife animals like birds, fishes, and maybe some squirrels or something. Although almost none of wildlife lives there, I did get a chance to see some interesting birds. Birds I have never seen before! It makes me wonder how do they live at the dirty L.A. River. I am really glad I got a chance to participate at this event because cleaning up the river actually made me feel like we took a step into cleaning our planet. Therefore, cleaning our planet leads to clean water, and clean water leads to a healthy and clean environment. I'm hoping that next year I'll remember to participate and make more wonderful changes for the planet!

                                                     

L.A River Experience

Hi my name is Samuel Mendoza. On Saturday April 18th, I went on a trip to the L.A River as part as my assignment for my English 101 class with Mrs. Ximena. I liked the activity I was in for many reasons. The main reason I enjoyed attending this trip was because I actually felt good doing something for my community. Cleaning the Los Angeles River was interesting after finding many different types of trash on the trees and under the rocks. One of the things that interesting was when I picked out a bright orange sign that said, "DANGER." I began to wonder about how this sign from perhaps construction workers got to this river. Another little trash I found and made me think deeply was finding a little noodle soup seasoning bag. I started to think more thoroughly on how all these pieces of trash got to this nice river with ducks and beautiful birds around it. I also saw what other people had got like rugs, market karts, and many others. I wasn't only disappointed on my  community but on myself too because I am part of the mess that ends up in the river by just throwing a little piece of receipt papers on the floor or anything at all. After picking up the trash I realized that it's not that difficult to just throw away trash in a trash can after using it. I realized that throwing trash on the floor can damage the natural habitats and nature itself. I've always known this but this action really opened up my eyes and see the mess we are doing to nature. The book I am reading for my class, No Impact Man, is all about not making a negative impact to the world but instead do positive actions like cleaning beaches, not using cars, not using energy, and abusing other natural resources. I am glad I can relate to this story by saying that I did something good, not only for the community but for the world, although it was a little bit. On top of cleaning the river, I got to meet people, learned about other actions I can do to help the community, and simply got burned by the sun. I had a great experience and I'm looking forward in going out and making a POSITIVE IMPACT on Earth.

L.A. River Clean Up

Hi, my name is Thien Doan. On April 18, 2015 I had the opportunity to attend an event by FoLAR to clean up the LA River. Before attended this event, I was not interested in protecting the environment however I changed my opinion after the event. The experience was not a pleasant once; I noticed, for the first time in my life, I saw nature existed in the middle of L.A., but it has been destroyed by humans. I also had some contribution in destroying the nature in L.A. As I walked around picking up trash, I noticed that all the trash that been dumped inside the river can be recycle and reuse. I was curious about how the river looked therefore I tried to get as close to the river as possible, and what I saw was devastated. After the river been channelize 1935 to prevent flood, the water level has decreased significantly. The water color turned to a greenish color, and the smell was dreadful. I found nature was forgiven and strong as it still lives with humans. For example, I found a couple of ducks swim and walk on the shore of the river, and trees are still growing on one side of the river. My best accomplishment was hauled a shopping cart from Target with Luis, my partner, up the hill. These type of events are meaningful because it helps to spread the awareness about the environment to others. I will participate again next year as I find myself doing something meaningful to the city and to the environment.