If Only He Were Played More in Syndication

Captain Planet used to educate children while kicking butt. His theme song said it best: “Captain Planet, he’s our hero / Gonna take pollution down to zero.” Once upon a time a superhero was combined with a relevant message. Now is the time when those two things are separated. But today, more than yesterday, this would a wonderful tool to get kids to want to help the environment in some way. Yes, of course, there are ways for them to learn to recycle on cartoons. However, in a world where there is a huge market for superheroes and the supernatural in movies and television, Captain Planet would reach a huge audience and perhaps make more of an impact than it did years ago. If one can remember, in every episode five planeteers came across villains that were polluting the planet in various ways. And Captain Planet was called upon to stop them. Unlike many superheroes, Captain Planet was not able to end pollution without the planeteers. They needed to use rings to call for him and bring him to life, in a way. (Batman does not count, because he could choose not to answer the call.) Currently, people are beginning to warm up to the idea of going green. Some companies are looking for ways to reduce their emissions and others are recycling daily. There is no better time to educate children on global warming and other issues. What better way can it get done than by combing the issues with a superhero? Besides, at the end of each show, Captain Planet would declare, “The power is yours!” And it is true: no other entity can help us. We have the power; we must adjust to protect the environment. It will not adjust to protect us.