by sam myers

This composite illustration represents the progression of human greed and corruption and how that leads to climate change. The Thompsom painting on the left shows an army in some battle formation fighting. Throughout history, societies have often used their military to pursue selfish goals and gain territory and resources. This led to destruction and pain for many societies, often targeting the most vulnerable. The next three paintings illustrate the results of wars and the destruction of important aspects of society because of those wars. The Cole painting in the center-left depicts a grand city being destroyed by an army. This is a representation of how no society is immune to human greed, no matter how strong they are. Even the Roman Empire eventually fell due to negligence and mismanagement. If we as humans are not aware of our collective responsibility, then we are bound to succumb to our own individualistic desires. The reason empires like the one in the painting fell is because of selfish goals by corrupt leaders who did not consider the collective desires. The two paintings next to Cole’s depict something similar, one of which is the burning of the White House by Freeman, and the other is the burning of Parliament by Turner. These are both examples of human corruption destroying the institutions that are supposed to protect us. This brings up the question of who is to blame here, the institutions that are not functioning properly, or the people who are destroying those very institutions? The illustrations at the top then show what happens when these destructive acts continue. If we keep destroying everything for our selfish desires, eventually there will be nothing else to destroy. One of these images depicts the destruction in Australia due to the wildfires. This is something that was purely caused due to human pollution. The kangaroo in the picture relates back to the theme of human dominance over animals and how our actions negatively affect the ecosystems around us. Due to pure human greed, we are hurting animals and causing destruction in our world. The illustration below the photo is the epilogue of this story, where all the conflicting and selfish desires of humans have resulted in just fossils and nothingness. As Falkenburg says, “Servility and subservience to the powers of evil are the defining characteristics of mankind in this land of darkness” (Falkenburg, 150). We are succumbing to the powers of evil within ourselves. As we move forward into the Anthropocene, we have to recognize the evils that are plaguing us. While in actuality our actions are more nuanced than this religious description, we still have to think about the moral impacts of our actions. This is similar to Genesis, which starts with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Like the beginning where there was nothing, the end of our world will also result in nothing. Every human and evolutionary accomplishment that we achieved in this world won’t matter if we destroy the very world that sustains our existence. This all ties back to the hell landscape in the Bosch painting, where society is burning and the structures holding the world together are invisible. In this panel, there are also humans fighting and a lack of animals compared to other parts of the painting. Here the humans are fully corrupted and show no regard for the world that they live in.