Every so often, I like to take a break from my adventures to help out, and today, I decided to join the Friends of the LA River (FOLAR) and Heal the Bay picking up garbage on Coastal Cleanup Day!
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The Los Angeles River flows from the San Fernando Valley all the way down through Los Angeles and empties into the ocean at Long Beach. It brings along a whole bunch of junk and gunk: plastic bags, soda cans, heavy metals, and fecal coliform bacteria – not the sorts of things you want to mix into a smoothie! Even though some parts of the river bottom have been restored from concrete to rocks and are actually quite pretty, I still felt bad for all those ducks floating around in the muck. Something had to be done for the muck ducks, so I pulled on my gloves and headed on down to Taylor Yard to help out!
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Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest volunteer event in California. It happens every year across the state and covers the beaches and inland waterways like the LA River. The event was really well-coordinated at this location. There were tents set up with tons of trash-picking, first aid, and informational supplies spread out for easy access. There were drawings and contests for the strangest piece of trash found! There were even snacks, but after a short while of picking up the garbage, you kind of lose your appetite.
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I wasn’t tall enough to use one of their nifty pick-up sticks, so I grabbed the sharpest pen I could find and set to work. Most of what I found were plastic shopping bags in various stages of decay, but that’s not to say there was a shortage of styrofoam cups, couch cushions, headlights, and even buried shopping carts! All in all, the volunteers along the river hauled in a ton of trash (No, really, I do mean 2,000 pounds!), but there was still plenty left when our three hours were up. The ducks thanked us, but I wished we could have filtered their water too. Maybe, some day, more people will learn how to properly dispose of garbage instead of dumping it wherever they want, like a living river. It’s a long shot, but I have hope.
Off to shower!
