KOMODO NATIONAL PARK — What a difference a year makes, especially when it comes to Mother Earth.

Marie Fe and Jake Snow, a popular travelling couple from Germany whose Instagram account @mariefeandjakesnow is followed by nearly 500,000 followers, has shone a spotlight on the issues of plastic consumption and pollution through shocking photos of a pink sand beach in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, taken one year apart.

In the first photo, the couple is shown lying languidly on the stunning beach, with no one – and nothing – around them. One year later, Marie and Jake returned to the exact same spot to take another photo, this time surrounded by garbage on the sand and in the water.

Posting the two photos on Earth Day on Instagram, the couple wrote: “We never imagined that upon return to our favourite beach in the world we would find such a disturbing scene! It really broke our hearts to see the amount of rubbish that had washed up on this once beautiful beach.”

Here are the 2 pictures (click the arrow on the first pic to see the second pic) …

 

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2018 PINK BEACH —> 2019 PLASTIC BEACH ???? : These two photos were taken in exactly the same spot one year apart from each other ???????? : It’s #EARTHDAY today and this is the reality of the horrible situation we find ourselves in ! Even the most secluded and untouched beauties of the world like this Pink Beach in the Komodo Islands are being drowned in plastic! : We never imagined that upon return to our favourite beach in the world we would find such a disturbing scene! It really broke our hearts to see the amount of rubbish that had washed up on this once beautiful beach ???????? : If we don’t act now, this will become a normality! Our beaches our oceans and our world will be covered in plastic ❌ Photoshopping the rubbish out wont fix the problem, showing the reality of what’s going on, will! Let’s call this what it is, a #plasticparadise !! How many beautiful places do you know that have become a plastic paradise? : We want to start using the hashtag #plasticparadise to start shining a spotlight onto places we notice that have a real plastic problem! We hope that this honesty and exposure will bring about pressure that will lead to clean ups and change! : JOIN THE MOVEMENT, use #plasticparadise when you see a problem, share this post, refuse single use plastic and go one step further by letting businesses that still use them know that you don’t support it by verbalising your stance! ???????? : #plastic#plasticpollution#conservation#earthday#earthday2019#earthdayeveryday#planetearth#mothernature#environment#love#plasticworld

A post shared by MARIE FE & JAKE SNOW (@mariefeandjakesnow) on Apr 22, 2019 at 5:38am PDT

The couple created the hashtag #plasticparadise in hopes of highlighting beautiful places around the world that have since been ruined by rubbish.

“How many beautiful places do you know that have become a plastic paradise?” they wrote. “Join the movement, use #plasticparadise when you see a program, share this post, refuse single use plastic and go one step further by letting businesses that still use them know that you don’t support it by verbalising your stance!

“If we don’t act now, this will become a normality!”

We shudder at the thought.