Cleaning Up DockWeiler Beach

My name is Francisco Alarcon and I participated in cleaning up DockWeiler beach with California State University Los Angeles' students. At first I did not really mind the idea of cleaning up the beach. I been to the beach plenty of times but never really paid attention to see if there was trash. When we arrived there we were given gloves, bag, and a tally paper. The tally paper was to keep track of all the trash we picked up but we soon realized that the amount of trashed we picked up was too much to tally. I filled up my bag with so much trash that the bag started to rip. I was disappointed to see the amount of trash there was in the beach. After the clean up we were told that DockWeiler beach was one of the "cleanest" beach in California. That just made me shake my head at humanity. We were then informed that animals eat this trash because they confuse it for food. I felt really bad for all the animals that could have been saved if we all just threw the trash in trashcans. It is a shame that people do not take responsibility for their trash and animals are paying the price. This event has definitely made me more aware about this problem. It has motivated me to take more responsibility for my trash. I also stopped using plastic bags, which was very common to find at the beach, when I go grocery shopping. Overall, I am glad I was a part of this event.

Heal the Bay clean up

My name is Walter Carrera, and I was one of the many who took place in this fantastic Heal the Bay activity. In this activity many students from Cal State LA went to Dockweiler beach to clean it from all the trash, including me. When I first arrived at the beach I was excited to be there but in my mind I did not think we were going to do very much work because I had never thought that the beach would be really dirty. I was disappointed when I arrived because I saw that the beach really was filthy and damaged from all the trash left there. The students were given gloves and a plastic bag to pick up the pieces of trash on the sand and a note card to keep track of what we picked up most. So my group and I set off to pick up trash and it was surprisingly fun to me to walk around in the sand picking up trash with my friends. Two of the most common found items were cigarette tips and butts, and Styrofoam. Out of everything I found at the beach, the most interesting item I found was a giant metal rod that I am guessing is used for fishing. It was an awesome experience to go and give back to the community by cleaning our beach. Hopefully many other people grow the desire to do the same and keep our California beaches the best in the world.

Saving our World

Hello my name is Rodolfo Mendez, I am from Cal. State Los Angeles and participated in the heal the bay at Dockweiler State Beach. This event was a good way to finally get a chance to go out doors, smell the fresh air and just stare out in to the ocean, just enjoying nature. Aside from that we were also contributing to our mother nature, it was really disgusting seeing lots of trash not only on the beach but also on the hills a couple of yards from the water. Things such as condoms, cigarette buds, and beer bottles were lying around and slowly making their way to the ocean shore. As one of my friends stated in an earlier blog, we turned it into a friendly competition to see who could collect more trash, that way we wouldnt easily get bored. In about 2 hours we each had a huge black bag full of trash. I feel we greatly contributed to the environment, although it wasnt a drastic change, we made it cleaner and safer. It felt really good helping out, and at the end of the day we all went home as winners.

I am Edgardo Gonzalez and i participated in the Heal the Bay event at Dockweiler Beach. I didn't expect to be much help in cleaning up because i thought that the beaches were going to be clean already. I was surprised to see so much trash not just on the beach but on the streets above the beach near the streets. You can find a lot of bizarre things that do not belong any where near a beach like cigaret buds, condoms, bottles, and a lot more filth. A lot of the trash that is thrown and left on the beach is a danger to animals. Some animals may eat the trash thinking it is food and die, especially if it is plastic because plastic doesn't digest. I felt good helping clean up the beach and made it fun. My friends and I had a competition to see who can pick up the most trash and fill up the trash bags the fastest. I didn't think of this event as a chore but as a chance to help the environment and make it safer for all of us.

Beach CleanUp

Hello, this is Andy Martinez. A while back I went to a beach clean up at Dockweiler Beach. It was the earliest i have woke up to do anything since the beginning of school, but anyways it was a very interesting experience. I wasn't expecting the beach to be as dirty as I saw it. There was alot of styrofoam pieces laying around and cigarettes especially on the side close to where people parked. I never really realized how dirty and irresponsible some people can be. I also saw lots of candy wrappers. As I continued my adventure my group and I came across an area where we found Vodka bottle and a Patron bottle and in the surrounding area condoms, these people really got it going. It was very awkward we looked at each other got the bottles and left back where we came from. It was an interesting experience that I think was worth me getting up earlier than ever, for this school year.

making a change

hey guys, my name is leti and i am a student of CSULA. in my english 101 class, i was told to do an environmental project, which was to go anywhere and pick up trash. when i heard this, at first i didn't want to do it. after seeing the presentation by a person from the heal the bay, something changed my mind about the project. so one day i was walking to the park by my old elementary and saw so much trash. i was shocked to see that. so the next day i when to the park with a trash bag and some gloves to pick that mess. to my surprise, i found some things that can not only hurt the environment but also the children who go to that park. in the photo from left to right i found: plastic bags, plastic chip bags, Styrofoam cups, cigarettes, syringes, lemons, and a tequila bottle. what type of people would leave these things? at least i cleaned up and tried to make a change. hopefully the people who saw me pick up the trash would try to do the same. so to people out there reading this, try to make a change that can save the environment as well as the children. peace and love.. <3

Heal The Bay

Hi everyone. My name is Azzam Meeralam. I'm a student at Cal. State L.A. In ENG 101 class, we were invited to "Heal the Bay" event. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate. I decided to do something else. I went to Del Norte Park to pick up some trash. When I got there, the park was almost empty. I picked up many different kinds of trash, plastics, bags and tree branches. While I was walking around the park, I noticed one big piece of tree branch, so I picked it up and throw it in the garbage container. Also, I picked up some plastics like water bottles and bags.



The cleaning process took about five minutes and I was able to pick up four to five items off the ground. If I stayed longer, I would have picked up more, but because of the sunset I had to stop.
I believe that it is our responsibility to keep our parks and beaches clean and beautiful. And that can be achieved by picking up our trash before we leave these places. It is easy! take a bag with you whenever you go to the beach or to the park.