LA River clean-up (FoLAR)

Hello,

My name is Daniel Rivas I participated in the LA River clean. It was a clean up held by "Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR). I went a long with my class mates from CSULA in my english 101 course. The main purpose of this activity was to clean up the river from trash, but the clean up had more meaning than just cleaning it up. At first before I went down to the river and started cleaning, I didn't expect for it to be very dirty, and filled with trash. I was wrong, and at that moment i felt really disgusted at the mount of trash we cause to just a part of our river. I wondered, "man! if this part of the river has this much amount of trash, I cant even imagine all the trash the river holds altogether. The most trash I could find would have to be plastic, especially bags. I thought it was very gross how a lot of the plastic were wrapped around the trees, and stuck. I was very difficult to take off, and I felt bad how I couldnt take off most of them. Otherwise, the river was very pretty, and i never imagined that this part of the river had so many trees, and nature sorrounding it. I was surprised! It felt like being in a forest or jungle. I thought it was a very fun experience, and I felt great that i could be doing something to help.

This activity, in comparison to "No Impact man" by Colin Beavan, it lets you sort of undertand of what Beavan went through. Because, he tried to make zero-impact on the environment and realized it was a very difficult process. People use plastic for only a short limited time, and then its thrown to the trash or perhaps not, and is littered on the streets. The trash littered on the streets ends up in places such as the rivers and or ocean. Beavan says that people use items a shorter time than what they are meant to. I realized that all the trash i found gives you an idea of how many people litter, may not care where the trash goes.

Its very sad because this thrash really affects the water quality, and the animals living in that ecosystem. Through the trash, you can also compare it to "The Lorax" in which the dirty pollutants damage the air, water. In the end of "The Lorax" the over all message is that unless someone cares enough, nothing will get better. And you can say the same about the river, unless someone cares enough for the river, the river wont get any better.