Do you remember Captain Planet?  If you were a cartoon-watching child in the early 90’s, or the parent of such a child, you probably remember the show. If the details are hazy the end theme song may jog your memory a bit: “Captain Planet, he’s our hero, gonna take pollution down to zero”.  Its official title was Captain Planet and the Planeteers and it was created by Ted Turner, a television media magnate and philanthropist. The original show ran from 1990-1992 and a sequel, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, ran from 1993-1996. The premise was to teach children about environmentalism and conservation with a group of multi-cultural teens who possess magical rings that can summon Captain Planet to help defeat villains and their attempts to destroy the Earth through greed, consumption or pollution.

The cartoon is in syndication and the first season was released on DVD in April of this year. There was even talk of reviving it for a live-action adaptation for the big screen.  Captain Planet is still being used to teach children to be wardens of the environment through the Captain Planet Foundation (CPF).

CPF was founded in 1991 by the show’s producer Barbara Pyle. She negotiated to have a portion of the profits from the sales of promotional merchandise be made available to schools and organizations to fund hands-on environmental projects. The foundation continued operations even after the cartoon ended its run. But in 2001 the merger between AOL and Time Warner (Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and Time Warner had themselves merged five years earlier) seemed to signal the end of CPF.  Laura and Rutherford Seydel, two environmental activists, stepped in and saved the foundation by making it a public charity.

Through the CPF’s funding children across the country have been able to study and learn how to care for the environment. Most projects focus on creating gardens, recycling programs or studying local environmental issues. In 2009, for example, the grant recipients recycled over twelve tons of waste that was headed for landfills. Last year recipients restored over thirteen acres of land through clean-ups and the removal of invasive plants.

The CPF, based in Atlanta, Georgia, continues to provide grant money and also hosts an annual holiday party to fundraise for projects like last year’s planting of sustainable gardens at schools affected by the BP oil spill. This year’s party marked the foundation's twentieth anniversary and three individuals and one school were recognized for their contributions to environmentalism.