It's a plea for the next generation. The future of the Pacific, or what organizers of the 30th Pacific Islands Environment Conference call the blue continent, needs to be green.

"It is not a conference that identifies some of the problems that we share but what we have in common. It is the ocean that connects us," conference co-chair Conchita Taitano said.

A record of 500 participants from across the globe with various subject matter knowledge are on Guam for the bi-annual three-day conference. From leaders in Columbia to Oakland - some say that even if Oceans separate them, they share solutions to combat climate change.

"What we have learned in the U.S. is that we cannot wait for our President to act," California Dream Corps director Vien Truong said. "We have to make sure that we are working together across the globe and across communities."

It's an international collaboration focused on giving the next generation a greener future. Topics ranging from zero waste to coral reefs allow attendees to interrogate issues and come up with ideas to implement on global scale. Also on the table - news of Guam's military buildup and the preservation of cultural land and artifacts.

Acting Lt. Gov Tina Muna Barnes says she caught up off-island visitors with the matter.

"Because if we lose what is vitally given to us as a gift, then our children will suffer for generations to come," she said.

Indigenous people's scholar and Native American environmentalist Jon Waterhouse from Oregon, a veteran himself, says there is room to engage all stakeholders when it comes to the environment.

"We have the great honor to work around the world and just in the last few days the people here seem more engaged to take care of this beautiful island than a lot of places we go," he said.