L.A. River Clean Up

 Hello, my name is Teodora Gomez a student at Cal State LA. This past Saturday, on April 23, 2016, I participated in the Folar clean up at the L.A. River with my English 101 class with professor Ximena Hernandez. This was a great way to get hands on experience with what we were currently learning in class. We read the article "thirteen ways of seeing nature in L.A." by Jenny Price, which discussed the damage that was done to the L.A. River in the 1930's after being filled with 3.5 million barrels of concrete. In the process of trying to control the river it was destroyed. I saw for myself all the waste that covers the nature. I feel that in the two hours I helped clean up, I made a difference and I would definitely like to volunteer again.


As we discussed environmental destruction in class, we compared the damage we do to our environment to the book The Lorax. A lot of damaged was done to the river and now to fix it will take a lot more time and money. It was very easy to fill up bags of trash. There was a lot things from bicycle tires, to shopping carts, clothing, and plastic bags everywhere. That shows how some people do not care to take care of our environment. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of people who showed up to the event. Although it will still take years to get the river as clean as we all want it. We should all pitch in to make a difference. We need to learn from our past mistakes and keep a sustainable environment.