Environmental art is a wide-ranging term encompassing sub-categories like land art, earth art, earthworks, ephemeral art, bio-art, earth art, walking works, eco art, and many more. For the purposes of this paper the term ‘environmental art’ will be used to describe works intended to become part of the natural world and works meant to incite discussion concerning environmental issues. The environmental art movement began concurrently with the environmentalist movement of the late 1960s and early 70s and also coincides with other revolutionary political and social movements such as counterculture, anti-Vietnam War, civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights movements. This experimental, politically charged period inspired art that reflected on society's’ relationship with nature and visual art in the public sphere. The environmental art genre is not the first category that comes to mind or serves as a popular discussion point in the comprehensive canon of art history. However, artworks under this wide-ranging term profoundly and directly reflect the beauty, horror, and reality of our current world. This paper will critically examine how contemporary artists Nils-Udo and Chris Jordan address the increasing threats to the environment today, such as the effects of climate change, and will compare and contrast the artists’ respective individual approaches, styles, and mediums. The examination will also consider how the urgency of these environmental changes has significantly influenced material, place, and technique in environmental artworks and will explore how both Udo and Jordan’s works differs from the works of eco artists of the past.
