The Destruction of the Los Angeles River

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The Destruction of the
Los Angeles River

The series entitled "The Destruction of the Los Angeles River" explores the issue of pollution entering our water ways. Although the cause for polluted water ways is often dismissed as an industrial issue, often the issue is far more related to each individual. Pollutants in our water ways is an important contemporary issue because of its frequency and lasting effect.

This Drains to Ocean. Hollydale, California. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 5". February 2012.

The Contents of the River. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 10" Diptych. April 2012.

untitled. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 10" Diptych. April 2012.

What Goes In, Must Come Out. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 10" Diptych. April 2012.

untitled. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 10" Diptych. April 2012.

Good 'N Cold. Hollydale, California. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 5". March 2012.

Drinking Water. Hollydale, California. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 5". February 2012.

Floating. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 10" Diptych. April 2012.

untitled. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 10" Diptych. April 2012.

The Accumulation. Hollydale, California. Hahnemühle Bamboo Archival Inkjet. 4" x 5". February 2012.

Artist Statement

The series is a documentation of the destruction human beings have caused to the Los Angeles River. What I did was I cycled the Los Angeles River bed, and documented the pollutants I found. Last Fall 2011 I took an Environmental Biology course that enlightened me about certain environmental issues we are facing in our world. This course really hit home for me, I took somethings to heart. I learned about the different types of pollution. This series originated, more or less, as a mixture of going bicycling with my younger sister on the weekends and learning about the environment. While, bicycling the trail, I noticed you can actually go down to the river bed. Once I got down there, I was intrigued by the way things appeared. We think of a river as a natural watercourse flowing towards the ocean, providing life on its way to its destination. The truth is, this river has been manipulated and in a sense it is now man-made. It is full of filth, and it disgusts me. What I am really trying to do with my photographs is bring awareness to The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the problems it brings such as degradation, leaching, bio-accumulation, and bio-magnification.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a gyre of litter in the central North Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. Thomas M. Kostigen published that the patch extends over an indeterminate area, with estimates ranging very widely depending on the degree of plastic concentration used to define the affected area. The Patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography, since it consists primarily of suspended particulates in the upper water column. Since plastics break down to ever smaller polymers, concentrations of submerged particles are not visible from space, nor do they appear as a continuous debris field. Instead, the patch is defined as an area in which the mass of plastic debris in the upper water column is significantly higher than average.

How trash makes its way to the garbage patch is pretty straightforward. When a plastic cup gets blown off the beach, for example in Los Angeles, it gets caught in the California Current, which makes its way down the coast toward Central America. Somewhere off the coast of Mexico it most likely meets the North Equatorial Current, which flows toward Asia. Off the coast of Japan, the Kuroshio Current might swoop it up and yank it eastward again, until the North Pacific Current takes over and carries it past Hawaii to the garbage patch. These are the currents that make up the North Pacific Gyre. Charles Moore says it takes a year for material to reach the Garbage Patch from Asia and several years for it to get there from the United States. Now multiply that one cup by billions of plastic items over years and years. Actually, about 65 years, starting after World War II, when we really began to make plastic products in mass.

Beyond plastic degradation and its toxic ramifications, other refuse issues ensue. Twenty-mile castaway fishnets snare sea turtles, dolphins, and other animals, endangering their populations; birds mistake trash for food, eat it, and die; jellyfish get sick; gnarly junk washes back to shore, some of it hazardous waste. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not just a problem for those living in the middle of the ocean; it is a problem for those of us who are land-bound as well.

Degradation is defined as the act or process of degrading. Well, what exactly does that mean? It means that the chemical compounds in an object (e.g. Plastic, Metals) are breaking down. Plastics will degrade into small pieces until you can not see them anymore. As a result of the ocean being a cold, dark place, the process of degrading happens slower. Do plastics fully “go away?” Full degradation into carbon dioxide, water, and inorganic molecules is called mineralization. Most commonly used plastics do not mineralize or go away in the ocean and instead break down into smaller and smaller pieces. We call these pieces “micro-plastics” if they are less than 5 millimeters long. Bio-based and truly biodegradable plastics break down in a compost pile or landfill, but are generally not designed to degrade as quickly in the ocean.

Bio-accumulation refers to the accumulation of substances, such as pesticides, or other organic chemicals in an organism. Bio-accumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost. Thus, the longer the biological half-life of the substance the greater the risk of constant poisoning, even if environmental levels of the toxin are not very high. Bio-accumulation, for example in fish, can be predicted by models.

Bio-accumulation should not be mistaken with Bio-magnification which is the buildup of certain substances in the bodies of organisms at higher trophic levels of food webs. Organisms at lower trophic levels accumulate small amounts. Organisms at the next higher level eat many of these lower-level organisms and hence accumulate larger amounts. At the highest trophic levels the increased concentrations in tissues may become toxic.

My opinion in all of this, especially in my disgusts, is that we as a society are so ignorant, and arrogant. Ignorant in the sense that we think in a mentality of “out of sight out of mind,” and refuse to face the facts. We are also so arrogant in many ways but I am specifically referring to how we see ourselves in the food chain. We have raped the earth in every way possible. Our society does not take into account that if we do not take care of the environment the environment is not going to take care of us. It seems that everything we touch immediately becomes disposable in an instant. Unfortunately, for all of us karma will catch up with us if we do not begin making changes in our views and thoughts about life.

In conclusion The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a result of bio-accumulation which is leading to leaching and bio-magnification. It is affecting the oceans ecosystem and our food chain. If we do not figure out a way to stop this from happening who knows what we might leave for our future generations.

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