Few things define our era like the environmental episodes ripping through the planet and into our collective psyche. Whether oil and chemical spills, extreme weather or the political debates over global warming, the recent behavior of this planet has turned things belly up.

So topical and dire is ecology that an occasional yawn becomes a natural element in the never-ending conversations. But every once in a while something—other than a headline about another chemical spill in a West Virginia river—rattles the senses enough for us to question what’s happening. The Jevijoe Vitug-curated Eco Logic at Contemporary Arts Center is just that sort of trigger, reminding of the schizophrenic relationship between man-made and natural.

The cross-cultural exhibit of works by artists in Las Vegas and Filipino artists in New York continues the conversation on how we function in and relate to our environment. It exudes urgency and motion; the makeshift and the calamitous; and the idea that somehow we have to reason and negotiate with our thoughts on the subject.

The white matter on Kim Johnson-Hagan’s tree branches seems to bounce metaphorically between killer fungi, symbiosis and the bandaging of the wounded, as if there’s no singular interpretation or answer (as in the larger discussion). From Rebecca Pugh’s painting made from ironed and flattened colored plastic bags to Troy Gillett’s towering sculpture of stacked and reclaimed wood to Jeho Bitancor’s oil-on-canvas painting addressing vulnerability and natural disaster, the 13-artist show becomes a fitting environment for contemplating reason.

Eco Logic Through March 1; Thursday & Friday, 2-5 p.m.; Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Contemporary Arts Center at Alios, 1217 S. Main Street, 456-0569.