Collaborative artist groups have enjoyed a resurgence in the past 10 years with teams involving rotating project specific members as well as smaller groups who have been working together for years. Some artist groups include biologists and engineers as well as artists and the work comes out in a joint name with the individual artist names immersed in the collective.

As for commissions, if you like birds, what's more helpful for the birds- artful educational birdhouse project or a painting/sculpture of birds using toxic or polluting art materials (oil paints, bronze, resins, etc.)? Plenty of countries, cities, community groups and even the National Parks Service have programs in place to support this kind of work.

Check out http://greenmuseum.org for other examples of environmental art as well as a simple Google search for collaborative art to see how widespread this approach is.