Would you go to a beach full of trash with a lot chemicals that can affect your health? I know most of  us would not even think of the probability of going, but why are we forcing the marine life to live under this conditions. why are we destroying their ecosystems. It is not enough, all of the advantages that we take from them? why are we taking away the only thing that they have. Let's take a moment and think why are doing this to them? Humans are the most intelligent specie on earth, why are we destroying our future?

                                               

Plastic Tree

Plastic Tree 

            About a month ago, I participated in FoLAR’s (Friendships of the Los Angeles River) river cleanup. Once I saw the river from afar, I noticed that there was not much trash, but not until I actually encountered the river was when I noticed I was wrong. As I was picking up trash, I did not realize how much waste was found here: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos bags, straw wrappers, broken glass, plastic bags, and many more. Everywhere I went to go pick up the trash, I cannot help but notice that there were countless amounts of plastic bags wrapped around the majority of the trees. My art project consists of a cardboard (which represents the soil), a toilet paper roll (which represents the trunk), and plastic bags (which represents the branches and leaves) because these specific types of litter were the most abundant in the river. I chose to include these particular trash because it depicts the plastic bags that were stuck on the trees. The plastic bags were intertwined and trapped in the trees. It was as though the plastic was glued to the trees; it was nearly impossible to remove it from the trees. From my art project, I hope to inform and alert the public that by not recycling and littering plastic bags are severely harming our environment. Since plastic bags are not biodegradable, the plastic bags take a very long time to break down (about 400-1,000 years), but when it does break down, it contaminates the soil. The contamination prevents the trees from growing. Since the trees cannot grow properly, they cannot produce the oxygen we, humans, breathe. The litter of plastic bags shows how lazy people are to dispose it in a garbage can or even recycle. Plastic bags fly around from beaches to allies to freeways to the ocean. People see the plastic bags, but they are too lazy to pick them up. Not only do plastic bags affect plants and trees, but the animals in the ocean as well. Eventually the plastic bags find its way into the ocean, which affects and harms the organisms living in this environment (such as fishes, birds, sea turtles, and other sea animals) making them think that plastic bags are food but in reality its harmful for them. Also, when the plastic bags do eventually break down, it pollutes the ocean. Both of these harmful factors of plastic bags reaching the ocean cause these creatures to suffer and die. When people see my art, I want them to understand that plastic bags are more harmful than they think. Hopefully my art project will help people to think twice before littering plastic bags to help the environment by doing something simple like recycling or disposing it in a trashcan. If everyone picks up at least one plastic bag, it can create a positive impact for the environment and ocean.

Dish a Fish

Dish a Fish

            I participated in the Heal the Bay beach clean-up, contributing my time and help clean a part of Dockweiler Beach. I picked up some incredible trash unfortunately; I did not bring the trash back with me to make an art project. However, I did go to a beach and did my own clean-up. I found many interesting trash in San Pedro’s beach. My art project is made from trash that people leave behind or dump in the beaches.

            My art project is a fish that is presented as food. The outside of the fish is made out of a beer cap, a cigarette bud, a shirt tag, a packet of gum, and a small hand towel. But the surprise is what the fish contains inside its body. The second image shows the insides of the fish which is made out of the bottom part of the sandal, a bottle cap, candy wrapper, a packet of gum, plastic, paper, foam, cigarette, and a shirt tag. The second image shows the trash that the fish has eaten which is the trash we make from our homes, parks, and more places which then makes its way out into the ocean. Fishes are highly intoxicated with chemicals and the small pieces of trash in the ocean.

            On the home website of The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College (SERC), - On the Cutting Edge, - Geology and Human Health, Gianna Andrews presents the case on “Plastics in the Ocean Affecting Human Health.” The author presents their case of plastic circulating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and that trash takes years to decompose entirely. Andrews says, “The worse part is, these plastics don’t biodegrade, so they brake up into tiny pieces that are consumed by fish and sea mammals.” All marine animals are being intoxicated by the smallest particle. With fishes being contaminated it affects the food chain in our system because we can become contaminated without knowing if the fish we eat has contamination. We put ourselves in danger when polluting our oceans and sea animals.

            For the people who trash our oceans and harm our marine animals with or without noticing be aware that you risk your own health too. Help keep our beaches clean by picking up the trash we leave behind and not dumping it on the floor. We can also do clean-ups with organizations like Heal the Bay and make a difference in our environment.eHh Let us keep our environment clean and our marine animals’ habitats safe from our pollution.  

Work Cited

Andrews, Gianna. Plastics in the Ocean Affecting Human Health. The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 3 June 2014.

False Appearance

 

 

           My artwork focuses on a false appearance. We can see a beautiful background of the beach yet an ugly duck swimming by. The duck is made out of trash to emphasize the unhealthy lifestyle that birds live. Many times, we enjoy relaxing at the beach and watching many birds fly by. We like to watch them because we assume that they live in a peaceful habitat. However, we do not know if those poor birds are starving or dying. We love to stare at the fresh water but have no idea what floats under it. Birds consume anything they find over and under water without knowing that it can harm them. As a result, birds end up dying.

            The trash that makes up the duck was collected from Dockweiler Beach. Which demonstrates that in reality, birds are exposed to harmful objects. Birds frequently, if not always, mistake trash with food. They eat trash that damages their stomach. Birds feel full but are unaware that they are stuffed with objects such as lighters, cigarette butts, rubber, plastic, glass, foam, among other trash. I recently participated in one of the Heal the Bay cleanups at Dockweiler Beach and was surprised with the amount of trash I seen. Birds are exposed to different types of plastic such as plates and cups, water bottles, bags, trays, and even toys. I frequently saw glass and foam objects that are dangerous for birds to consume. Picking up trash was a helpful action.

            My artwork represents environmental injustice because it is unfair that birds pay the consequence of our actions. If we stop littering and instead clean up beaches, birds would not have to go through these situations. In fact, we can do these actions to offer birds a healthier habitat. It does not take much time and effort to throw away garbage in a trash can instead of the street. It will not only benefit birds but our communities as well. No one enjoys living in a dirty environment. It is time for change!

O Say Can You Sea?

This American Flag is made of foam core molding, paint, trash from Dockweiler Beach and glue.
I went to Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles to pick up trash for the Heal-The-Bay foundation and I was amazed at just how much trash there was! In my art project, you will see bottlecaps, cigarette buds, bottle lids, a stay-on-tab from a soda can, straws, construction paper, a piece of glasses, some rubber, a piece of an aluminum lawn chair, a pair of pliers, a piece of a razor, a fork, plastic and some wrappers. I did find more trash than this, but a lot of it was too gross to display. I chose these pieces to put in my project because they represent the trash we make from day-to-day.

The message of this American Flag covered in trash is: America may be the land of the free, but it is also the land of the filthy. There is so much trash on our beaches that the trash builds up and the animals die eating the trash that they mistook for food. I saw a gopher at Dockweiler Beach and first, I thought,"aww, how cute!" and then, I thought about the horrible death it would have because of how much "food" there is lying around on that beach. And this isn't the only beach where this is a problem! The problem doesn't stop with the beaches, or even the lakes. It only gets worse every day when we litter and create more garbage.

We should clean up after ourselves...always! There should be no exceptions. If we don't want to swim in our own dirt, then we have to do something about it. Whenever you're walking somewhere and you casually drop some trash for some random custodian to pick up, think about this: what if the custodian didn't pick up that piece of trash because he was too focused on all the other trash that he missed it? What if that piece of trash was left and polluted our air? What if that trash just killed a bird from the inside? There's no need to ask "what if" anymore. We know what can and probably will happen. And we can prevent it! All we have to do is hold onto our trash until we find a trash can.

I will be going to beaches and wherever I'm needed from now on to clean up the trash that we people have made and left for the environment. Will you do the same?

Is this what we want for America, "the home of the free and the brave"?
Do we want to be known for our anthem or for our excessive trash?  

The Land of The Filthy