Blog Assignment 2

I went out to Heritage park located in Jurupa Valley. The City of Jurupa Valley used to be a part of Riverside City, but it separated, but it is still part of Riverside County. After taking a few pictures of what I saw, I took a seat and zoned in on the things I could observe from that one seat. Heritage Park was the first place that came to mind, when this blog was assigned. I've met with friends here, rollerbladed here, exercised here, but I've never went beyond to explore it's “back door”. I hiked for a long while, then right after I took a seat and observed what was in my immediate sphere.

Here is a list of the abiotic things that I observed: rocks, dirt, trash, strong wind, mountains, hills, Traffic/freeway noise, holes, bricks, concrete, sun, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, blue skies, clouds, cars. Of the biotic things I observed: squirrels, cactus, bees, grasshoppers, trees, flies, lizards, plants, spiderwebs, butterflies, birds, processed wood(trash), sunflowers, Fallen dead leaves, grass. The hole were my favorite; probably mole rats, squirrels, or gophers; but definitely some kind of biotic thing. The wind pushed down the leaves, I noticed, all while the dirt is absorbing the nutrients of those dead leaves and the toxins of the human waste. The trees absorbing the carbon dioxide of the Cars driving by, supplying me with enough oxygen to breathe. The lizards eat the flies, the bees pollinate the plants. All in all, while the sun warms me and energizes everything around me. This was a touching experience for me.

The heritage park was dedicated to the Community of Jurupa Valley, mainly the individuals in the Glen Avon area for working together as a whole to defend their community from environmental hazards. Years ago, many businesses decided to dump as much battery acid waste as possible in a Reserve located in Jurupa Valley. This became a common dump site for businesses all over the country. This was an environmental hazard for everyone living in the area, it even contaminated the water supply. To make a long, mournful story short; eventually the Community joined together and forced the government into submission to give justice to the people of the Glen Avon Community. Even though I don't live exactly in the Glen Avon community, it was still in the General Jurupa Valley area. I was very upset when I first heard of this incident, but I was glad that the Members of the Community joined together and fought until Justice was dealt. To this day the dump site remains contaminated. Riverside seems to absorb all of the countries waste for some reason; it's one of the most polluted areas in the World. Growing up in Riverside has given me a strong passion to pursue Environmental Justice all around the world. I am glad to have been born in Riverside; otherwise, I might not have been so passionate about the environmental issues our world faces today.

Seeing trash in the Heritage Park gave me some sort of uneasiness, given that it's supposed to symbolize both synergy and environmental justice.

I've uploaded pictures below.