San Agustinillo’s local economy, like its neighbor, Mazunte, has forever relied on its sea turtle populations but not always through conservation as it is today. Local residents once captured and slaughtered turtles for their meat and eggs. However, after the turtle industry was banned in 1990, Mazunte and San Agustinillo turned to ecotourism. 

 

The area is proud to protect its local sea turtle population. However, while no one is no longer killing sea turtles with machetes, everyone is unknowingly doing so with the newest lethal weapon: the drinking straw. With the influx of tourism rising the amount of plastic pollution in the sea, turtles (among many other marine creatures) are ingesting plastic through their mouths and even noses. The average human uses a drinking straw for 20 minutes but it takes 200 years for the average drinking straw to decompose. 

 

Coast 2 Coast teamed up with La Biblio, an alternative educational space for an engaged community, to facilitate two participatory audiovisual workshops on plastic pollution, specifically drinking straws, with local youth in Mazunte. 

 

In our photography workshop, participants walked through their community photographing all the straws they could find from those in coconuts to those disregarded in the street. Participants became more aware of the presence of plastic straws in our society and what happens to them after their purpose is over. 

 

These photos were used as references later to make a stop-motion video where participants created a story about a man made out of drinking straws who investigated all the ways humans use and disregard popotes.