If Magellan had Balutan

An Exploration on History Single Use Plastics in the Marianas

By Moñeka De Oro, Micronesia Climate Change Alliance.

Abstract

If Magellan had used any styrofoam or polymer blend products that are common in our modern day fiesta culture, remnants of that trash may still be degrading in our shores, five centuries later. This presentation explores our island's consumption habits and our heavy reliance on imported goods. The introduction of single use plastics is fairly recent for our islands (PostWW2 era), yet it has transformed our lives in innumerable ways. So much of our food and goods are packaged in ways that are wasteful and take a lot of space in our landfills. The island of Guam alone on average creates over 30 tons of trash a day, with our lands so small and finite, its is imperative that we curb our wasteful habits and this history presentation raises community consciousness around this issue. It also will be capturing the behavior changes that are needed, so that more people will adopt more sustainable lifestyles.