A Yellow-less World

After reading the introduction to Kohak's The Green Halo, I revisited his explanation of the title. I considered the story and wondered, "Is the loss of yellow really such a tragedy?" If the painter in the story ran out of yellow and began to use green paint for the halos of his apostles, would that make the painting any less beautiful? Initially, I thought not. I thought of the adage about making lemonade from the lemons you are given--doing the best with what you have. The painting would undoubtedly be different, but I could not conclude that different is equivalent to bad or wrong. Would it be a change? Yes. Would there be less variation in color? Yes. Less beautiful or creative? I can't say that....However, I as I considered this new painting and all the paintings to come, I wondered, "What would the world be like without yellow?" What would be the continued impact of the lack of one color? In my mind, I pictured a gallery of paintings completely devoid of yellow. That image was quite a bit more startling than that of one green halo. Then, I realized, without yellow and using green in it's place, green would quickly be used up as well, especially without the yellow to create more. I imagine that orange would eventually follow as well. Leaving a world of only blue, purple, and red. This seemed even more dire, though I still think that painters would continue to paint and create works of art. Would they be different? Drastically! Would we appreciate them any less? I couldn't say, but I could certainly argue that a loss of half of the color wheel would significantly limit the variation and expression of the works produced. If these artists continued using only those three colors and compensating for the loss of the others, which color would they run out of next? How would that impact all art in the future? Would paintings eventually cease to exist?
This may seem like a ridiculous train of thought, but it demonstrates the point that everything in this world is unique and has a unique place and purpose. The loss of one can begin a chain of events that has dramatic effects in the future. The analogy above simply discussed the loss of a color. An inanimate thing that does not think or feel. How much more important does that one thing become when it is a living being? How much value should we place on each aspect of life and its unique impact on our global painting?