This painting depicts an electron microscopic image of a slice of the human brain with earthen side panels. It is my meditation on what I see as the core of our environmental problems—our own minds, our own ways of thinking, and the acute challenge we face to change our mentalities. Cooperative behaviors are valued in our societies, but often only in limited ways and often focusing on a relatively small circle of people.

The actions we take in the larger world often seem primarily guided by selfishness, insatiable greed and unrelenting desire to consume. These drives are often invisible to us and every form of destruction we are carrying out, whether against the larger natural world or other humans often seems like the normal or justifiable business of the day.

The pandemic could be a valuable period to learn important ecological realities, for example, we now know every person is intimately connected to the rest of the life on the planet, and if we don’t foster a healthy world for all people and life forms we will be increasingly vulnerable on many fronts. Can we use our creativity to create new symbols and stories that help us envision the realities of our deeply connected world?