The power was mine.

I saw an advert recently reminding me not to use a 100 watt bulb when a 60 watt would do. It seems like a pretty simple thing to remember (how flippin' bright do you need your house to be, anyway?), but it sparked off a few neural connections in me that the advert's creators might not have intended. The sentiment, and the wording, was almost exactly the same as an after-credits short that was featured in the show Captain Planet and the Planeteers, that I must have watched at least 15 years ago.

If you aren't acquainted with Captain Planet then you might have missed the Saturday morning cartoon renaissance that occurred during the early to mid 1990s. The titular Captain Planet was an elemental warrior created from the powers of five magical rings, each belonging to a teenager from one of the five continents and each containing the force of one of the... four elements. I can imagine the brainstorming meeting at the show's inception:


Head Executive: So he's a superhero, like Superman, but environmental. So we rope the kids in and the merchandising does itself but we get the moms and schools and all that other crap on board. 

Junior Exec: Does he have different costumes, sir? 

Head Exec: No, this is the brilliant part. To even GET the superhero on screen, you need to combine a bunch of other powers. And the powers belong to teenagers. Use... I don't know, the four elements. And then you give one each to a kid from each continent. Put 'em together, presto chango: Captain Planet!

*Applause* 

Junior Exec: Um... sir? 

Head Exec: What? 

Junior Exec: There are... um, there are five continents, sir. 

Head Exec: Really? 

Junior Exec: America actually counts as two, sir. 

Head Exec: Well, just make up another element then. Something inoffensive, that doesn't change the format of the show. Like 'heart' but not as gay. 

Junior Exec: Well sir, the Chinese actually believe that metal is the fifth element and... 

Head Exec: What are you, a communist? You're fired. Power of heart it is. Aaaand done. *Does 'gun' gesture with hands.*




So the spirit of the earth gives five magic rings to five special young people, calls them Planeteers and sends them off to fight eco-crime or somesuch without clearing it with health and safety or anything. Ma-ti gets stuck with the power of heart but it doesn't really matter because the five Planeteers are, frankly, rubbish. In retrospect it's obvious that they would have to combine their powers to summon Captain Planet in every episode (he does come ahead of them on the billing), but at the time I remember thinking, even as a small child, that the Planeteers were strikingly inept, and that if I had magic jewellery that shot fire out of it I'd do a much better job of combating eco-terrorism.

On screen it looked like the Planateers were held back by their own creative shortcomings (if the girl who controlled water didn't have a fire to put out or sea-creatures to bathe, she just stood around looking sheepish), but in reality they were battling both against the demands of the plot and against an amazingly jarring contradiction in the show's own ethos. Captain Planet's motto was: the power is yours, but the tagline extolled every time he was summoned forth was: by your powers combined. The idea was to point out that people are much more effective when they work as a team: a worthy sentiment but one that left the Planeteers relegated to multi-cultural cheerleaders while Captain Planet did the required eco-asskicking. 

I'd actually forgotten his awesome, grass-green mullet. Go Planet!

The program was dead and buried by the mid 90s and although it is fondly remembered, most people recall it for its catchy theme tune and for the beguiling mix of sentimentality, violence and high camp that typified western children's animation during the period (Captain Planet, while a rugged looking dude, should have either fired his costume designer or is naturally one of the gayest looking beings in the universe).

The show had an effect on me, but perhaps not the right one. I mean, I remember the theme tune word for word, but I still need to be reminded to use a lower wattage in my light-bulbs.

When people talk about the effects of climate change, or indeed, any continued trend that may affect world development, the point is often made that it will be the next generation, or possibly the one after that, to suffer the full effects. We can fuck up the planet with impunity because we'll be dead and buried by then, but our grandkids sure are going to be pissed about it.

In my case, and in the case of people my age, the sad fact is that we've been listening to this argument for most of our lives. I was only 5 when Captain Planet first aired in the UK. It was pointed out at the time, possibly even on the show itself, that it would be the next generation that would need to act. And the next generation... well, I've had a lot of stuff on recently, so I've been a bit busy. What have YOU done to save the environment?

I don't want to sound like a defeatist, but maybe we're naive to think that we can convince each other to stop messing about with the planet, seeing as we're having so much fun doing it. Perhaps we can convince the next generation to do a better job. At least part of Captain Planet and the Planeteers point was demonstrating to children how they might make a difference in the world: that the power might be theirs. Seeing that I am that next generation, maybe the show wasn't as effective as its creators had hoped.

I know it sounds like I'm passing on the responsibility and that's because I quite blatantly am. I just think that it's unlikely that everyone my age is going to have a sudden change of heart about looking after the environment. I'm one of the more ecologically minded people I know and I'm still frankly crap at being green.Maybe we should turn our creative efforts onto a new project: how to get those that follow us to do better than we. Considering the example we currently set, I think we're going to have to make a better show than Captain Planet if we're to convince the next generation to stop passing the buck.