One river, two realities. What do you choose, grass or trash?

La Plata River is located in the southeastern coastline of South America. It is a 290 kilometers long stream of water that is part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay. The images on this collection show, through a diptych format, this river in two different locations. The photographs above were taken in an area which is part of a Natural Reserve, where efforts to protect the river and its associated ecosystems are being made. Contrarily, the photographs below belong to an area in which there is no respect for the river or nature in general. There, authorities have approved the construction of a wall and a street that separate the river from the wetlands and coastal woods without previously conducting a valid Environmental Impact Assessment. The damage made to biodiversity and nature is huge but the construction of this wall has been stopped by a Judge, leaving the structure unfinished. What was once an area of wetlands and native coastal woods is now a landscape of rubbish, iron and concrete.

This is a story of destruction, but also of hope. The photographs above show what this river and its associated ecosystems could be in all its extension if we protected it and remediated the damage. We must ask ourselves, what river do we want? But most importantly, what planet do we want?

See more Nature images following me on twitter: @MellodoraArt Special collection for the Tezos4Nature event.
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