The air we breathe to the food we eat and the water we drink all our basic need of sustenance are fulfilled by the environment.
This is a good idea for your argument. I think, though, that it should also include some mention of why protecting the environment is MORE important than protecting the arts. For example, I can add to the thesis statement:
The air we breathe to the food we eat and the water we drink all our basic need of sustenance are fulfilled by the environment, and no art can ever be produced again if we let the planet get gradually destroyed.
This statement at the end of the first paragraph becomes your main argument, and it is memorable to the reader.
To start with any harm to the environment will directly affect the food chain.--- this would be a good topic sentence for a paragraph in an essay that is only about the environment, but your essay is about the environment verses the arts. So I want you to include mention of the arts in each topic sentence if you can:
Any harm to the environment will directly affect the food chain, and this has consequences that are more severe than the consequences of losing art.
Same thing here:
Arts whether visual or performing play a very crucial role in preserving the age old culture, but the environment is crucial for protecting the art and culture of the future.
See what I mean? Write the thesis statement and each topic statement so that they support the main idea and mention both art and environment.
:-)