Here is what I submitted, for what it's worth...
... accompanied with this description.
In this design, I’ve used a quote combined with a simple cross-section illustration of a prairie grass. As a collector of quotes all of my life, I spent some time reviewing quotes about prairies, grasses, and soil, and in the process of doing that these words popped into my head which borrow a phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance: “Promoting Liberty and Justice for the Prairie." I felt this represented all three themes listed on the Land Institute's T-shirt design guidelines: 1) 40th Anniversary of the Prairie Festival; 2) this year’s topic of “Economic Transformations for an Ecological Civilization”; and, 3) The Land Institute’s Mission. Since I like minimalism, monochromatic art, and Asian Brushstroke painting, I combined these elements to make a quick sketch of my idea and then carefully did a one-off, submitting it to the Land Institute the same day I read their Email asking for T-shirt designs. It helped that I knew how much Wes Jackson likes to show people how long the roots of prairie grasses are, which preserve the soil and provide for a rich biosystem. The KM in red at the bottom of this art is my red “chop” or signature which I add to all of my paintings.