The greatest problem with Captain Planet is that the solutions given are based along a few false pretenses. These pretenses remove any actual value from the show's environmentalist message, superhero aside.
A) Ignorance is not the problem, people who pollute do so with full intent to cause harm to the environment.
B) The environment is always an innocent victim, humans are never justified in their use of it.
C) The root of the problem lies with those who do the actual polluting, not with those who benefit from it.
Let's give an example. In one episode on Rhino poaching, the team goes to China, where stupid American kid gets sick after eating true Chinese food. They go to a traditional medicine shop and receive treatment, a bit of powdered rhino's horn.
The problem, the *real* problem, one that put countless species on the endangered list is very simple: Traditional Chinese medicine operates on the pretext that consuming parts of animals imbues one with aspects of said animal. Tigers have been slaughtered because it is believed that consuming their penises will enhance sexual potency. The same thing can be said for Rhino's horn. On a separate but equally noteworthy bit, Shark's Fin Soup, another product of China, has decimated the shark population, it's quite possible that it was what stupid American kid was eating. The source of the problem, the demand for Rhino horn, is ignored. Instead they travel to Africa to confront the poachers.
The Poachers, in classical Captain Planet fashion, state their ambition outright. They want to drive African Rhinos into extinction. In later scenes, Rhinos are depicted running away in fear from poachers, and even crying after getting shot.
To those unfamiliar with Rhinos, they are stupid, aggressive, and noted for attacking absolutely everything that moves. By everything, I mean *everything*. They don't cry, they don't run away, they attack, whether you're a pride of lions, a jeep, or an abnormally large wiener dog, they will attack.
I could nitpick until the end of time, but that would be missing the forest for the trees. The attitude presented casts out some of the most valuable allies to the environmental movement in favor of often outdated logic (CFCs were illegal when the show was made, dolphin safe tuna was also universal). The most valuable allies, the ones who often get things done, are the very people portrayed by this show as villains. Hunters may kill animals, but they also protect habitat. We will have to get our wood from somewhere, and newer trends in logging can help the forests. The Rainforest is not in danger from corporate greed, but from residents trying to clear land to farm on. Kids should be taught that the only way real change is going to be made is by working together, work with those big shadowy enterprises, not against them. Corporations, for all the bad press they get in shows like this, will take a better solution if its presented. Cars produce large amounts of C02. Car companies brought us Hybrids. Teach them that they can exact change by working *with* instead of against polluters. As individuals, they can do great things that way. Captain Planet would have us believe that polluters are doing so for the sole purpose of polluting, and are thus unredeemable. That is the platform Greenpeace, PETA, and other terrorist organizations. Don't let them think that. Diplomacy, not violence, not a tights clad superhero with a green mullet, will solve the problem. Does it make for good TV? No, not even slightly, but it does ring true with the message of the show. The power *is* yours.
Environmental angle aside, Captain Planet had a few messages worth listening to, when they weren't talking about the environment.
A) Ignorance is not the problem, people who pollute do so with full intent to cause harm to the environment.
B) The environment is always an innocent victim, humans are never justified in their use of it.
C) The root of the problem lies with those who do the actual polluting, not with those who benefit from it.
Let's give an example. In one episode on Rhino poaching, the team goes to China, where stupid American kid gets sick after eating true Chinese food. They go to a traditional medicine shop and receive treatment, a bit of powdered rhino's horn.
The problem, the *real* problem, one that put countless species on the endangered list is very simple: Traditional Chinese medicine operates on the pretext that consuming parts of animals imbues one with aspects of said animal. Tigers have been slaughtered because it is believed that consuming their penises will enhance sexual potency. The same thing can be said for Rhino's horn. On a separate but equally noteworthy bit, Shark's Fin Soup, another product of China, has decimated the shark population, it's quite possible that it was what stupid American kid was eating. The source of the problem, the demand for Rhino horn, is ignored. Instead they travel to Africa to confront the poachers.
The Poachers, in classical Captain Planet fashion, state their ambition outright. They want to drive African Rhinos into extinction. In later scenes, Rhinos are depicted running away in fear from poachers, and even crying after getting shot.
To those unfamiliar with Rhinos, they are stupid, aggressive, and noted for attacking absolutely everything that moves. By everything, I mean *everything*. They don't cry, they don't run away, they attack, whether you're a pride of lions, a jeep, or an abnormally large wiener dog, they will attack.
I could nitpick until the end of time, but that would be missing the forest for the trees. The attitude presented casts out some of the most valuable allies to the environmental movement in favor of often outdated logic (CFCs were illegal when the show was made, dolphin safe tuna was also universal). The most valuable allies, the ones who often get things done, are the very people portrayed by this show as villains. Hunters may kill animals, but they also protect habitat. We will have to get our wood from somewhere, and newer trends in logging can help the forests. The Rainforest is not in danger from corporate greed, but from residents trying to clear land to farm on. Kids should be taught that the only way real change is going to be made is by working together, work with those big shadowy enterprises, not against them. Corporations, for all the bad press they get in shows like this, will take a better solution if its presented. Cars produce large amounts of C02. Car companies brought us Hybrids. Teach them that they can exact change by working *with* instead of against polluters. As individuals, they can do great things that way. Captain Planet would have us believe that polluters are doing so for the sole purpose of polluting, and are thus unredeemable. That is the platform Greenpeace, PETA, and other terrorist organizations. Don't let them think that. Diplomacy, not violence, not a tights clad superhero with a green mullet, will solve the problem. Does it make for good TV? No, not even slightly, but it does ring true with the message of the show. The power *is* yours.
Environmental angle aside, Captain Planet had a few messages worth listening to, when they weren't talking about the environment.