LA River Clean-up 2013

My name is Carolyn Molina (the one in white shirt). I currently attend Cal State LA as a freshman. This quarter a group of students had the opportunity to attend the Great LA River Clean up. When my professors first mentioned LA had a river, it surprised me because I really did not know there was a river in LA. When you usually think of a river you see trees, plants, rocks, and a beautiful place where you would go to relax. Before going to the river I Googled some pictures just to get a view of what I was expecting when I attended. The main thing I saw when I seen these pictures were bridges and the river surrounded by concrete, it didn't even look like a river almost like a ditch of some kind. I was excited to go because it would be pretty cool to volunteer to clean up a historical place. When I got there I saw the middle part of the river and it was beautiful, nothing that I ever expected. It didn't seem like there was too much trash but there was a few pieces here and there. We started walking down to pick up any trash we found, the main trash we collected were aluminum cans. I seriously thought I would get a lot of money if I took them in to recycle. As we turned the curve to try to get to the other side it seemed to get a bit boring because there wasn't as much trash to pick up, so we walked back where we started and were on our way home. This was a great experience to help protect our environment and I think I will volunteer again to help keep our home clean. :)      

LA River Clean Up

Hello peeps. My name is Kevin Garibay and I am a CSULA student. I never knew that the LA River was a place that people could be around. I thought that it was all cement until I actually went to this FOLAR event and experienced the nature firsthand. After having seen this side of the river, I noticed that a change can happen and it can happen for the good. I really thought that it was going to be a little more messier than it was, but it really wasn't and with my good luck I had found an old, torn up $100 bill. Apart from that it was good. It really seemed like a good workout, because my group had to dig up 2 shopping carts that were stuck under trees and pounds of dirt. If it was any different, the river would end up being cleaner than it was that day. If it was cleaner than more people would appreciate it and keep it clean for as long as possible.

Los Angeles River Clean-Up

Hello everyone

My name is Melissa Hernandez and I am a Calstate L.A  student. I knew that in Los Angeles was a river but I never went there until the clean-up. Cleaning the river was a really good experience, even though at I was not sure about the idea of going there to clean, at the end I would never change that experience. Where I began to clean looked really clean, there was a little of trash, but as I keep walking I saw more and more trash, I saw cloth and plastic in the trees, I saw 4 shopping carts, and lots and lots of wrappers, cups and plastic bottles. Some of the trash I couldn't reach it because there was water between the land where the trash was. I saw many spiders and different type of plants, and some ducks. The only thing I didn't like about being there was that I got a little allergic reaction in the skin from a plant but it went away in a couple of hours. Overall I had a good time being there, and I am happy there I went to help and enjoy a little what nature gave to us.

Hello, my name is Kelsey Amezquita. I went to the LA river cleanup not thinking much of it. But being there and seeing all the trash wrapped in the trees. Did have a big impact on me. Knowing that most of our trash gets stuck in the river and trees grow over the trash. Seeing all this trash in the river makes me wonder, how many people know we have a river? Before i went to the LA river, i never knew we had a river that close to us. After seeing the river and seeing all the wildlife around the river makes me want to go back to enjoy the river. Cleaning the river was enjoyable because there were so many people there that were helping the environment, by cleaning the river up. River cleanup was fun my group of 4 people had fun finding some random items like clothes, beer bottles, hubcap,  shopping carts, and lots of plastic. Also one of my group members did fall in to the river. She just got out and cleaned herself off and after this accident we walked back to the start of clean up and saw all the trash that was collected from all the other people. We saw a couple of shopping carts, lots of plastic bags and much more. Getting close to the end we went in the middle of the grass area on the river to see the other side of the river where there was no vegetation. But over all the experience was enjoyable.

River Clean-Up

Hi fellow environmentalist, my name is Maria Avilez and I am a current student of professor Hernandez, in Cal State LA. On May 18, 2013 we had a LA River Clean-Up assignment to do. I was looking forward to it since the first day I heard about it. As a neighbor of the LA River I already knew that it would be a really enjoyable and needed assignment. I love going to the river to either bike or jog along the path and I have always seen the trash but never actually picked it up. One because I felt a little odd being the weird one picking up trash and second because I never necessarily had the right tools, like a bag or gloves. Therefore I was really enthusiastic to hear that there was going to be a lot of people walking around picking up trash. When that day arrived I woke up early to get ready for the big day, since I am a neighbor of the LA River, there was no need for me to drive, bus or bike it there. What I did was walk (since I am literally a block away from the meeting area). Once getting there it started getting sunny and I figured I will kill two birds with one stone, break a sweat and clean up a little around the area. I did fall in the water when trying to get to a plastic bag on a tree, I was to anxious to grab the bag that I forgot to focus on where I was walking. I knew it would dry up again so I didn't worry to much about it. Overall it was a great experience and I would love to do it again when I get the chance.

L.A River

Hello peeps,
My name is Consuelo Huerta currently attending Cal State L.A. This was a good experience for me even though I already had plans with my church, it turned out to be fun. I was not to excited to go clean; I hardly clean my house how was I going to go clean a river. I was more worried about there being rats and how hot it was going to be rather than focusing on the main reason why we were actually going. I have never participated to clean anything but I have participated in feeding the homeless people at the Union Rescue Mission, and it is very different. I felt like I actually did something good for the community. Since my class has been focusing about the environment and how human activities is causing global warming, has made me change in a good way. The things my group and I found or saw were interesting. The L.A River is very nice but can be better without the trash. I am not one to make friends right away but I met 4 girls including the girls I gave a ride to and got closer to 4 other people. We would see each other in different classes but not talk as much. This trip I got to learn a little more about them, where they came from, live, and their perspective on the environment. I am glad I decided to go to the L.A River because it was a nice experience that I would like  to do again. The group I was with were awesome people.

 

LA River clean up May 18, 2013

Hello my name is Faustina Teliz-T and I am a student at Cal State LA and I would like to share a little about my experience at the LA river clean up this past Saturday may 18, 2013. At first I was not looking forward to this clean-up because I thought it was going to be boring, really dirty, and would smell really bad, but when getting there it was the opposite of that. When I arrived at the place and was parking I noticed that there were a lot of people that contributed in the clean-up. As my group of friends and I started to clean we found many plastic bags that were either on the grown with sand all over it or up on the trees. It was hard for me to get them down because I am not as tall but average size but I still managed to try my best to reach what I could. While walking and picking up trash we came to find a tire cap, clothes, and we also found a cart that was stuck in the water and stuck with the tree. What I mean with this is that it was in the water and the tree is growing there is finding its way through the carts openings and threw it. We tried to take it out but were too weak and could not move it. My overall experience was great and I would like to this again next year.  

Los Angeles River Clean-Up (:

Heyy Everyone, My name is Siloneth Armas known better as Melissa and i am a current student at Cal State L.A. and i wanted to discuss a very fun time that i had when i went to clean the Los Angeles river.(: Cleaning the river wasn't exactly what i thought it was going to be, mind you that i am from San Diego and know nothing about what is in or around Los Angeles, nor in the area. When I was told at the beginning of the quarter not to make plans on May 18, 2013 because of an assignment we had to do I immediately giggled, and thought of a way to get out of it, because I knew that it was my Saturday being taken away and i wanted nothing to do with helping out the environment. But as the quarter was continuing i grew less and less ignorant toward this project. In all of my classes i was given assignments that made me realize what i was doing to this environment to harm it along with help it. As the weekend approached I still wasn't all that please about going but in a way was excited to see what i'd find, and be able to meet a new place in Los Angeles I had never knew even existed. The eve of the trip approached and I was getting anxious about how it was going to go, what i was going to find, how bad i was going to feel going, etc. There were so many questions running through my mind and i decided to just wait and see what happened. Finally, the day of the river clean up was here, and i woke up feeling better than ever. I was excited to see my classmates and teachers get together and do something good for our community, and environment. When my friend and I finally got there we saw that it was practically in the middle of houses and there were people still setting up, so we concluded we had arrived a bit early, haha. But after being debriefed and put in to groups we set off to clean the river. My group and I encountered many different peculiar things. One of my group mates found a cone inside the grassy area. We also found a cart that was inside of a tree, it seemed as though the tree had  formed itself around the cart, since it was there for such a long time and no one ever came back to remove it. An amazing thing about my group was the fact that none of us really knew each other outside of the classroom and because of this field trip we all got to know each other a lot more. We realized that we had a lot in common and cared about the earth. This field trip was an amazing experience for me. It changed my perspective on the earth and how humans are a great cause to what is occurring to our planet. And it made me more happier to clean because I got a cool T-Shirt out of it :D

Hi my name is Kathleen Piril, I am in Professor Ximena Hernandez English 101 class. On Saturday May 18, 2013 my classmates and I got to be a part of an unforgettable experience. We made a difference in our environment by cleaning the LA river. I have never seen a part of the LA river where you can actually see trees and a part of wildlife. I was so amazed to see such a beautiful site. When arriving at Marsh Park I expected to see a mess and trash everywhere. It was not what I expected, there was not as much trash as I expected that it would have.
As my group and I started the clean up we noticed a lot of broken glass, cigarette buds, and plastic. I expected to see a disaster as we walked further and further down the river. We saw a shopping cart in the river but it was to heavy to pull out, I also noticed as I went towards the trees that there were some plastic bags and foam underground, and it seemed that they were stuck on the tree. If you looked closely you cans see all the trash around the river. The LA river is such a beautiful place but some people don't take the time to notice it and often don't care where their trash end up. This is where we have to make a change and be aware of where we are throwing away our trash. I felt happy to be apart of the LA river cleanup, to see people from the community come together to clean was great. It shows that we can make a difference in our environment. It was fun to get to meet new people that have the same interest as me. I learned to only use reusable bags to reduce plastic bags ending up in places like the LA river. This was an unforgettable day and I know I would like to help the FOLAR program again.

Hello, my name is Juan Gomez Vasquez. I am a student from Mrs. Hernandez's English 101 class at CSULA. On May 18, 2013, our class and a few organizations (such as FOLAR) came to the LA River to help clean it up. Growing up close to the LA River I always noticed how dirty it was but when I actually went into the river, I began to see how dirty it really was. As I walked threw the river I notices a lot of plastic bags, bottles/ cans, and a bunch or wrappers. But as I began to dig deeper, literally dig, I notice that their were shopping carts, traffic cones, and even parts from a bike. So a couple of my classmates came upon a shopping cart and decided to dig it out. It took nearly one hour to get out. During the digging i notice my fellow classmate, Kevin had stopped digging. As I looked towards him I noticed he had found something very interesting by the way he was looking at it. It had turned out that Kevin had just found a $100 dollar bill, that was beginning to dematerialize. It crazy how you find money but its even crazier finding $100 dollar bill in the LA River. This just shows how much we really take care of our LA River, I mean after all if it took thousands of dollars to convert it to how it is.

La Gran Limpieza

Hello fellow bloggers,
 My name is Ilana Regalado and I would like to give you a short review of my experience in being part of the LA River Clean-up event " La Gran Limpieza". I felt this experience might have left many eager to continue to make an impact in our river or if not in othe ways. I know becauase while at the river I would hear many talk about making a change to reduce their trash and I would notice many cleaning the river with such passion, I was so greatful they were part of the clean up. I noticed this clean up made many more open, so many people talked to people they had never met before about how to keep the environment clean and what impact Los Angeles can try to do. I was just so happy with seeing and hearing peoples care.I would also like to add that I really enjoyed my self. I felt I met another group of people that I know care for the environment as much as I do. My group I felt was one of those groups that not only noticed the problems the city was doing to this river, but also what could they should avoid so they do not contribute to the litering or polluting. I really admired them for what they did at the river and the way they felt about it ohh.. and because they did not make fun of me when I slipped over that greenish sludge hahaha, but i did get a bit mad when they said I went over board when getting the orange caution cone, which I thought was a trophy.I hope who ever went on this experience that they left with another minset on littering and what impact they can make. I am just so greatful their was such a program involved in the river and people dedicated to make a change.

P.S: Are is planning on the end of Spring Quarter to Bike and do a bit of cleaning at Marsh Park where our clean up took place. So if any one is intrested in getting an update on a date just let me know and you are more than welcome in being part of another great experience :)

Los Angeles River Clean Up

Hello, 

My name is Tatiana Landaverde. I am part of Prof. Ximena Hernandez's English 101 class at California State University, Los Angeles. This course is part of the PRESTIGE program, which focuses on the environment. My classmates and I join the Friends of Los Angeles river and others organizations to participate in the L.A. river clean-up on May 18, 2013. 

It was my first time participating in this event and I was very excited to being part of this clean-up. One of the reasons is because I am very interested in environmental topics and I have done some clean-up before with other groups. Another reason is because I did not know there is a river at Los Angeles, it was until I started this PRESTIGE classes that I knew about the river, so I really wanted to know this place. 

When I arrived to the Marsh Park, I was very impressed of how the river looks. It was beautiful but I could not believe it was the river because of all the constructions that have been done around it. 

My teammates and I started the clean-up at a part where the river that have dry out and there is trees and grass. We found a huge amount of trash such as plastic bags, plastic cups, rubber cables, aluminum cans and parts of cars. We also found a sign stand that was stuck in a tree branches and another group near to us found a shopping cart. When we finished the clean-up, I saw some people who were fishing and it make feel sad in how we depends on the rivers but we are polluting them and we are causing damage to the species living in the river.

I feel happy that we have done this clean-up. However, we do not only have to go and pick-up the trash, we also have to be aware of not throwing trash at any place that way we are not causing damage to the environment. 

LA River Clean Up

Hello,

My name is Jiaying Yang. I am part of Mrs. Hernandez’s English 101 composition class. On May 18, 2013 many students from Cal State La and other volunteers helped to clean up the LA River. Everyone that went to the LA River Clean Up is trying to make an environmental difference. I will remember this clean-up day forever because we contribute to the river by picking up trash to make it less contaminated to the animals that live around the river and make the river more beautiful. The outside of the river was beautiful, but when my group went in to the river bed, there were many trashes. My group and I picked up many grocery plastics bags, cups, aluminum cans, and aluminum caps. We even found a tire and a cart near the river. I saw other volunteers picking up trash that are big and small. We can change the environment of the river by not throwing trash or littering in the river. Many other people can also contribute to the river and picking up trash with friends or family because it can be fun and afterwards, they can see the change of the river.  

Hey, my name is Karlmina Alconaba. I am one of the students from Mrs. Hernandez's English 101 class. Yesterday, May 18, 2013, our class and a few other organizations came down to the Los Angeles River to help clean it. Before volunteering for the FOLAR clean up, I did not know that the Los Angeles River was as big as it is because all I really see is the part near the Glendale Freeway. At first, I was somewhat hesitant on volunteering for this clean up because I did not know what to expect. When I got to Marsh Park, where the clean up would take place, I was amazed at how beautiful the place would be with water. Cleaning up the LA River, my group and I found a lot of glass, cigarettes, and plastic. We even found shopping carts, but we were too weak to be able to carry them. Being a part of the FOLAR activity of cleaning the Los Angeles River, I realized that even simple things such as cleaning the river could make it look beautiful. I am glad I got to be part of such an amazing opportunity like this. It feels good to me to know that I've helped the Los Angeles River look better and cleaner. I hope more people take time out of their busy schedules to realize that the LA River could look just as amazing as any other river, if we all worked together to help clean it and make it a better place. I had a great experience with the Los Angeles River, and I hope everyone else did. 

Experience at the LA River

Hello, 

 My name Milagros Calzadilla. I am part of Ms. Hernandez's English 101 class. On May 18, 2013 a couple of students and I took part in cleaning up the LA River. As I walked on the river bed I was kind of depressed seeing that most of the water has dried up. Also I found a lot of trash everywhere little and big some of the things I was so surprise I would not imagine that there would be CDs and a car radio and shoes. It was really beautiful to be able to see these trees that looked like they had spider webs on them but it wasn’t it was cotton trees. There were so many that at a point I wanted to sneeze. I was only expecting our classmates to be the only ones cleaning up but I saw that there was other different organizations and family contributing and I thought that was pretty amazing. My group went through these trees and at the top of one of them we found a LADWP Water Sign and Lenni picked me up so I could pull the sign down but it was to hard so we brought other people, it took us a while to get this accomplish but I am very happy to have been able to taken that down I felt that we did a very good job in supporting our team and not giving up. I hope that one day I can do something like this again it was a very fun experience.

The LADWP Water Sign that was stuck on top of that tree above us.

The Cotton tree

Experience at L.A River Clean Up

Hello,

My name is Muycheng Taing, and I am a student in Mrs. Hernandez's English 101 class. Today, many students, volunteers, and I participated in a FOLAR River Clean up Event to help out our community. Since our class emphasizes on our impacts on the environment, we participate in this event to create a connection to what we learned in class and to create some positive impacts to our river. Before taking this class, I did not know that we have a river in Los Angeles, and I feel very excited to be able to visit and clean up the L.A River. At the clean up, a few classmates and I formed a group and we sorted the type of trash we picked and tallied them up. I learned that most of the trash around the river is mostly plastic bags and Styrofoam cups. Of course there were other types of trash such as aluminum can, glass, metal, fabric, and wood, but plastic and Styrofoam was the most abundant. I realized that wind and rain fall can gather our litter and trash into the river and ocean. Just like what I read in Colin Beaven's No Impact Man, our trash really do make its way to the river and ocean and ends up forming a big island of trash. Those plastic and Styrofoam create the most harmful pollution because their chemical makeup harm animals and fishes in the river and ocean. Since our drinking water is from the river water, the pollution can also harm our health. Those trash is the evidence of our littering habit and our negative impacts on the environment especially river and ocean pollution. Not to mention that some of the trash can be recycle and some of them should not be there if we use reusable materials. Therefore, I learned that if we use the reusable cups and bags and stop littering, then we will not see as many Styrofoam and plastic lying around our river. Moreover, we can reduce our negative impacts on our river and our environment by putting the appropriate trash into the appropriate recycle bins or trash cans. After this clean up, I feel that I had made a difference to the environment by reducing the amount of trash at the river, and of course everyone else can make a difference!   

Hello, 

My name is Carlie Lopez. I am part of Ms. Hernandez's English 101 class. On May 18, 2013 a couple of students and I took part in cleaning up the LA River. As I walked on the river bed and into the LA River I felt a bit of anxiety, not knowing what to expect down there; I was amazed to find little much trash. It is a beautiful place that often times get dirty, it was nice to see the other volunteers picking up trash from different organizations.  I took a lot of excitement out of getting the opportunity to be part of something like this. I just hope I can be part of it again someday. Giving back and serving our community showed us how we can change the way things are in our environment.

Shopping Cart Stuck in the Ground

As I was cleaning I picked up a lot of interesting things. As I looked everywhere around my surroundings there was trash everywhere, little and big. I found a two shopping carts that where stuck in a tree and one that was buried to the top in sand. I noticed that there were a lot of plastic bags and water bottles everywhere. All of these things can be recycled, but we all need to contribute to the change. Seeing the trash in the LA River made me realize that not many people care for the environment. After my day cleaning the river, it got me thinking not to litter. So now I'm going to think twice when I don't throw away my trash in its rightful place, the trash can.