LA River Clean up

Hello, my name is Caroline Pinheiro, I am a freshman taking Ximena Hernandez's 2030 English class. On April 22 of 2017, I, along with the rest of the class, helped pick up trash near the LA river in my home town of Glendale. Now when we first arrived, the river is not in sight, nor was it the objective of our clean up. We were tasked to clean up the area around the river rather than the water itself. I was not particularly surprised about the amount of trash and plastic we found, but was still frustrated at the lightweight and tangle-prone nature of the trash. Most of which was bits of plastic bags that caught onto snags on tree branches and weighed it down, which would eventually lead to the plant's demise. 

It's enough to say how surprisingly inspiring it was to see many people gathering to clean up the river, many of which without having a classroom assignment to motivate them. Others suggested to have these clean ups more often, so that there would be less trash to harm out wildlife, however I disagree. More clean ups with not mean more cleaning up, but less people showing up. It takes away from the special moment that is the flash clean up and instead introduces environmental concern as a regular chore that many would resent enough to not go.

One thing that I feel this assignment failed to address, not through any fault of the professor or the assignment but rather due to lack of practical solution, was the water. I failed to get a picture of it, but on the edge of the water where it meets the bank, there was a built up of tan foam. Who knows what was actually in it but it reminded me of another river I know from my stay in Sao Paulo Brazil, where at the end of the river, the process of cleaning the water disturbed the surface so much that the pollutant foam would build up to 4 feet high. Yet again I was reminded of this river when students in class claimed they passed over the LA river without paying any mind or notice to it, but this time I was reminded of how that is exactly not the life in Sao Paulo. Our river, Rio Tiete, runs through the middle of our city and is regarded as Open Sewer, and falling into it was joked, but not altogether disproven, as certain death.

https://allevents.in/s%C3%A3o%20paulo/role-no-rio-tiet%C3%AA/1692105387720079

This foamy, trash ridden river that everyone can smell from literally a mile away if what I fear will happen to the LA river. And as it stands, there is no reason as to why it won't. Without some TLC, our LA river is ripe to become the flowing trash convener out into the ocean. However is FOLAR, Friends of the LA River, continue to do their work, along with the help of some change in government policy, I believe we can undo the damage done on the river and the environment around it. I believe the key is to prevent the pollutants and trash from even getting to the river in the first place. Americans, not only those in LA, should be made aware of how our country removes it's trash from the public eye. Once the general public is informed, and thus feeling more than a little guilty, then they can begin to accept that change must be had for the sake of not only the planet, but for ourselves as well.

Hey there! My name is Sebastian Cabrera and I participated in the FOLAR River Cleanup this past Saturday the 22nd. I am currently a second-year student at Cal State LA and attended this service under the supervision of English Professor Ximena Hernandez. Although I have participated in multiple clean up services before, this was my first time attending a service regarding the LA river and thus I was quite excited. Upon arrival I was directed to acquire a trash collection bag and gloves. Almost immediately after, the cleanup commenced and we were directed towards where we could enter the river and begin collecting the trash below. Trash was littered all over the river, which wasn't surprising since it looked exactly how I imagined. Although there were various types of trash from broken cell phones, to ragged and torn articles of clothing, I was more focused on picking up anything that was plastic. Reason being that in my class, Professor Hernandez had us read an article discussing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In short, its a massive "island" of plastic in the Pacific Ocean that seems to only grow bigger every year. It is sort of depressing considering not much can be done about the decomposition of plastic. This moved me to focus on removing every piece of plastic I could find from that littered river. I found plastic covered trees that had more plastic bags than leaves. Ironically my group that I was with uncovered a plastic bag that read "Don't Trash California". So much for keeping California clean if trash like that ends up being cleaned up by people who want to prevent something like that. The service lasted roughly about 2 hours and we managed to leave that place cleaner than we found it which was quite enlightening yet saddening at the same time. However, I will not let the sadness aspect of it take over. Instead this service really opened my eyes to be more conservative and limit the trash output I can in every way. Hopefully everyone else can have the same realization and we can all contribute to the reduction of trash from this littered world so we can all live happier lives.

FOLAR

Hello, my name is Ricardo Medina, and I am currently a student at Cal State LA. This past weekend was earth day, and I participated in cleaning up a section of the LA River. It was the first time that I had been part of an event like this. I was astonished about all the people that showed up and supported and took part in the project. There were people of all ages and cultures. Furthermore, it was an un forgetful because I personally was able to see for myself the impact that we make to the earth. in my cleanup expedition, I found various types of plastics and metals. To me it was quite the experience because it brought me face to face with what we have discussed in Professor X. Hernandez's lecture; the impact that we have done with development of certain materials like plastic and actually observing it in our local river makes one aware of the actual problem not being miles away because truth is it's not out of sigh, so we can't necessarily put it out of mind. Previously, I had not quite made the assessment regardless of the material and videos we viewed in class, but after participating in this event, I have changed the way I shop. It is not a drastic change, but it is a start. Here I am with an item that I removed from the river, and also, a picture of all the people that were in the river helping clean the river as well.

FOLAR LA River Clean Up

Hello everyone my name is Tamarah Marin. This is my second year at California State University, Los Angeles. On April 22, 2017 I had the honor to help out FOLAR with the LA River Clean up. In class we were learning about how to fix something or how to reuse something we thought could be thrown away. We also learned a little bit about the river before we went to go and clean up and it has changed a lot over the years.  Once I got to the river I was surprised how many people where already there helping.  Right away I went to turn in my waiver to help out. They gave us gloves and a shirts. I had my cousin come along with me because she thought it was a good opportunity for her to come and see what this program does to help out the community. There was so much trash everywhere. There was a lot of thing you didn't think would be there. For example there was a three full of raspberries, which i found very surprising. There was a lot of trash stuck on the trees. It was also hard to take anything out of the trees because they were either wrapped around the trees where you couldn't pull it off or they had a lot of dirt to the point where it was heavy to pull out. I have never done anything like this before, so I didn't know what to expect. Saturday morning was really hot. Also with Saturday being Earth day it was something special that everyone there helping with cleaning the river was a way as a community coming together.

 
                                       

FoLAR La River Clean-Up

The Concrete River

Hello, my name is David Navarro and I will be discussing my experiences during the FoLar La river clean up, for my English 2030 class with professor Hernandez. Although this was not my first volunteer clean-up project, but with the rugged terrain of the concrete leftovers of the rivers forced redirection, it was not the easiest of clean-ups.

Roaming the concrete desert of this “river,” there was plenty of camp communities built by the less fortunate individuals, there was an intense feel in the air, as if the very aroma of this abandoned landmark was tickling my nose.

Although the river is seen by thousands a day there is no concern for it, whether it is polluted or not is never in the mind of the people of Los Angeles. Now that I am here experiencing the garbage infested landmark of ours first hand I can say without hesitation something has to be done to change the rivers current conditions. There are countless plastic bags, intensely rusted clumps of metal pipes already molded around certain grounds of the river, and even pieces of lost e-waste. 

Although the river seems beyond saving, with is full shopping cart trash, and even hundreds of pounds of metal pipes, and thousands of miles of plastic pollution, but it can still be done. Events like this are the only way word can spread and actions can finally begin to save our concrete river. I would gladly volunteer again for this cause.

LA river clean up

Hello,

         My name is Jesus Ramirez. I participated in the FOLAR clean up of the LA river on April 22, 2017. This was done due to an assignment in my English 2030 class. The minute we discussed the assignment I quickly was interested in helping in the clean up. My first thought was that it wouldn't be so bad. Once I arrived that thought changed. There was a lot of trash everywhere. I couldn't believe how much trash was collecting there.  The main place where I collected my trash was within the trees. This area was hard to move around in, but I did my best to help make the LA river clean. I noticed a lot of groceries bags tangled within the branches of the trees. it seemed to me that bags were the most popular among the different kinds of trash found. I remembered how in class in a documentary we saw there was a man filled with bags. That was his costume to created awareness to how many bags are thrown away. Therefore me finding a lot of bags made me see why that man was using that costume made out of bags. Also, I found a lot of pieces of rusty medal. Most of it was deep inside the ground. I had to move rocks and dig around it to let me have access in pulling it out. While I was under a tree I saw a piece of medal sticking out of the ground as I tried to pull it out of the ground I felt that it was heavy and I needed to put in more strength in getting it out. Once I started to dig around it I noticed that it was a shopping cart. It took me some time to be able to finally pull it out. It was a great experience for me. I recommend everyone to try this out. It will benefit you and your environment.

LA River Clean-Up

Hello, everyone my name is Kevin Vega. I am a second year attending at California State University Los Angeles. On April 22, 2017, I participated in a clean-up held by an organization called FOLAR. The event took place at the Los Angeles River where my English 2030 class went to a clean-up at the river to keep our cities clean from pollution. This event was my first FOLAR Clean-Up I attended, and it was a great experience helping out my community to keep our river clean. I have biked it around the river lot of times with friends, and I never thought that the river would have some much trash. During the clean-up, I didn't expect to see some much trash such as a shopping cart, clothes, wires, plastics, phones, etc. My professor said that someone found a 100 dollar bill in the river. Who knows what else is burn in the river beside the trash we found on Earth Day. It sucks that most of LA's dirty water ends up in the river. In the future, the city of Los Angeles has a proposal about a revitalization of the Los Angeles River. This master plan would take about 20 years to complete. Hopefully one day, people could visit the river without seeing any trash but fishes, the beautiful waters and the parks around the area. The LA river doesn't even look like a river, but hopefully, this master plan would revive the river again. During the clean-up, we see some much trash. Most of the garbage I found was plastic bags and clothes. The sad part of the day was that it was hot to clean the river. The trash in the river has been there for years or more. The trash was burned deep in the sand, and the plastic bag was in stuck in the trees and plants. I enjoy seeing other people clean-up the river because I enjoy biking around the river because it is peaceful and nice to bike with my friends.

The wire suck in the dirt

The best thing like about the community service project was the amount of work put into cleaning the river. It wasn't only our group cleaning, but other organizations were cleaning the river. We only cleaned a section of the River while other groups cleaned another part of the river. The cool part was that my friends and I found a broken shopping cart and we added a seat to it.

We fill up about six trash bags. I never thought that there would be some much trash in one section of the Los Angeles River. It was surprising seeing so many people care so much about the environment to take time out of their days to clean up the river and rather not go to work. People would spend the day cleaning the river rather than goes to the beach or the park to enjoy their day. It was a great experience to be part of the FOLAR Los Angles clean-up event at the LA river. I would recommend everyone to go because you will meet new people and enjoy your day helping mother nature.