When artist Michelle "Misha" Maynerick was asked to contribute to Chicago's "CoolGlobes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet," she knew immediately how she would go about it.

Going beyond the concrete and humanity-oriented themes of many of the other contributors, Ms. Maynerick offers a spiritual solution to improving our rapidly changing environment.

Atop her bright yellow and orange globe, stenciled with drawings of people and flowers, is inscribed a saying of Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, to which Ms. Maynerick has belonged for the last eight years:

The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its UNITY is firmly established.

Entitled "United to Solve Problems," Ms. Maynerick's globe is located along the bike path near the Field Museum of Natural History. It is one of more than 100 globes, all five feet in diameter, on display through September along the Chicago lakefront.

Michelle Maynerick's CoolGlobe,
"Unite to Solve Problems""Art is a powerful force in our society and is under-appreciated as such. It's my role as a Baha'i artist to tap into that force," says Ms. Maynerick, who recently began a Master of Fine Arts program at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

"Once we realize we all share the same planet and should respect each other, we need to collaborate on all levels," Ms. Maynerick says. "Global warming is just one of the many problems afflicting and dividing the human race."

The CoolGlobes committee chose to sponsor Maynerick's "United to Solve Problems," the only globe the committee is sponsoring. Sponsors of the CoolGlobes project, which began in June, include the City of Chicago, Exelon, Toyota and Abbott Laboratories, among others

Ms. Maynerick's other public work in Chicago features two panels in noted artist Mark di Suvero's Peace Tower on exhibit through Oct. 1 at the Chicago Cultural Center.

For the last five years, Ms. Maynerick taught art to Chicago students in a city-sponsored program and in another program at Rush University Medical Center.