My work of art represents the class. The four larger corners represent the philosophers that we read as well as modern thinking. The inner four colors represent the four elements and the inner sphere represents the Earth. The black lines between the corners and the elements make them remain separate, however, the only thing that is not separated is the Earth which is an amalgamation of the 4 colors I used to represents the four elements. The upper right corner represents Ezarim Kohak. The blue and the green are mildly reminiscent of the colors on the cover os his book The Green Halo. However, the colors are interwoven in with the green and are intended, in their style, to somewhat represent his flannel ecological perspective. The lack f any solid pattern in this quadrant was intended to represent Kohak’s broad views as well as how many points of view he put forth in his book. The bottom right corner represents Bill McKibben’s book The End of Nature. Once again the colors chosen are reminiscent of the cover art on his book. The orange form in the middle represents the dead nature, like the canary did on his book cover. However, the red that shoots out around it represents its rising like a phoenix. This was to represent McKibben’s book because although he is grave about the end of nature, he is not despairing or melancholic. The bottom left corner represents Mary Midgley and her work Animals and why they Matter. The yellow base represents her encompassing philosophy of nature, as well as her covering of all the possible angles of a situation. The red flames wicking up represent her firebrand nature.
The upper left corner represents the modern world. The red, white, and blue do not necessarily represent America, but all the countries that have since adopted liberalism. This is also to represent the Enlightenment, because that was when man first stopped looking at nature as ‘mother nature’, as in the middle ages and the ancient eras. The rigidity of the colors is supposed to appear manufactured when compared to the flowing colors of the rest of the painting.
In conclusion, the Earth is represented by the orb in the center. This orb contains all of the colors used to represent the four elements. Also none of the corners touch the center, purely the elements. This was done to show how elemental the Earth was, and how far apart we are removed from it. The black lines that edge each section shows hoe some of the corners use the same colors, but they never full touch. This represents how each writer we have looked at has had their own very unique perspective on the question of ecological ethics.