Captain Planet
Sources/References
Silent Spring & DDTs
The Story of Silent Spring (NRDC - 2015)Rachel Carson and the legacy of Silent Spring (The Guardian - 2012)Courage for the Earth (Rachel Carson) by Matthiessen, Peter (archive.org - 2007)Page 135: A letter from Carson’s friend, Olga Owens Huckins, brought to her attention dead birds found nearby following pesticides sprayed by mosquito control planes.
One In Three by Adam Wishart (archive.org - 2007)DDT versus Malaria (wellcome collection - 1946)8:22: The British District Entomologist eating a bowl of porridge sprayed with DDT
IARC Monographs evaluate DDT (WHO - 2015)“The insecticide DDT was classified as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on sufficient evidence that DDT causes cancer in experimental animals and limited evidence of its carcinogenicity in humans.”
It causes a chemical disruption and so it's considered to be a probable carcinogen (can lead to the formation of cancer), but not directly genotoxic (causing cell mutations).
Fire Ants On Trial (Wikimedia - 1959)DDT Terminology Reference System (EPA/archive.org - 2006)“It is poisonous to other vertebrates, especially fish, and is stored in the fatty tissue of animals as sublethal amounts of the less toxic DDE. Because of its effects on wildlife its use in most countries is now forbidden or strictly limited.”
The Birth Of The EPA (EPA/archive.org - 1985)
Earth Day
The History Of Earth Day (earthday.org)The First Earth Day (History.com - 2009)Earth Day Through The Decades (NERC - 2020)Environmental Education a Key Focus In 1990’s ‘Earth Day’ Commemoration (Education Week - 1990)TV Gets Down To Earth (LA Weekly - 1990)Celebrate Earth Day by watching this insane all-star TV special from 1990 (AV Club - 2016)30 Years Ago Rewatching Time Warner’s Super Weird 1990 Earth Day Special (Living Life Fearless - 2020)The Children’s Television Act of 1990 (govinfo.gov - 1990)Earth Day: An SOS for Survival: April 22, 1970 - (ABC News / YouTube - 2020)Archival footage of Earth Day 1970
The Global 2000 Report
The Global 2000 Report To The President (cartercenter.org - 1988)The full report as a PDF, originally published in 1980. This is a reissue.A shorter summarised “Major Findings and Conclusions” version of the report can be found hereExtensive Deforestation (Page 4)Acid Rain & Plant and Animal Extinctions (Page 5)Famine (Page 7)Damage to the Ozone Layer (Page 8)Overpopulation (Page 9)
Timeline and historical insights (1980-1989) (Environmental history)Eco-problems of the 80s return to haunt us (New Scientist - 2008)
Captain Planet
How Captain Planet Inspired A Generation Of Millennials To Save The World (Inverse - 2021)Includes a report on The Planeteer Movement and Liter Of Light
The surprising story behind the making of ‘Captain Planet’ (Grist - 2021)How we made Captain Planet and the Planeteers (The Guardian - 2020)Captain Planet: Here He Comes to Save the Day (LA Times - 1990)The Power is Yours! (turner.com/archive.org - 2000)Official website, since taken down
Meet the characters (Mother Nature Network / YouTube - 2009)Executive Producer Barbara Pyle explains the backgrounds of the Planeteers, including the statement that the US were being “completely obstructionist” at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit
Why Some Environmentalists Hate Captain Planet (nerdfighteria.info - 2018)Captain Planet Merchandise: Ecological or Pollution? (MiscRave - 2021)Summoning Captain Planet (New Yorker - 2021)
1992 Rio Earth Summit / Biodiversity Treaty
Why the US won’t join the single most important treaty to protect nature (Vox - 2021)While President Bush Snr did not sign the treaty, President Clinton did in 1992. However, in 1993, GOP senators blocked it from being passed by the Senate which would have made it official. Therefore, as of writing, the USA continues to be the only UN country not part of the Biodiversity Treaty.“In 1992, Clinton won the election and, in a move hailed by conservationists, signed the treaty shortly after taking office. But there was still a major hurdle to joining CBD — ratification by the Senate, which requires 67 votes.”
“No president has introduced the treaty for ratification since.”
The United Nations and Other International Institutions: A Critical Analysis By Frederick Henry Gareau (Google Books - 2001)Page 283: President Bush’s refusal to sign the treaty caused much anger. The local newspaper declared Bush “the villain”. Three pairs of the president’s shoes were stolen, held hostage on the condition he sign the treaty. When he didn’t the shoes were publicly burnt. An American delegate was awarded the “Ostrich Award” on behalf of the USA for the worst participation at the conference.
Summit to Save the Earth: Rio's Legacy (Time - 1992)WIT's World Ecology Report - Vol. 04, No. 4 - The Digest of Critical Environmental Information (nzdl.org - 1992)Action (New Internationalist - 1992)Brazil - Rio Earth Summit (B) (AP Archive - 2015)Archival footage from 1992
Earth Summit : Rio opens with plea for proof of global brotherhood (The Guardian - 1992)Tree Of Life Project, Pledging For The Planet by Juliet Foot (Hastings Trust - 1992)Page 2
Environmental Issues Post Rio Earth Summit (1993)Speech from Vice President Al Gore
Fair Is Showcase for Lighter Side of the Rio Summit (1992)
Environmental Changes / Kids in Activism
Straws are out, lids are in: Starbucks announces environmental milestone (Starbucks - 2018)McDonalds to ban plastic straws in all of its restaurants in UK and Ireland (Independent - 2018)A brief history of how plastic straws took over the world (National Geographic - 2019)Why Plastic Straws Suck (Tech Insider / YouTube -2018)A Brief History of Recycling (NERC - 2019)Plastic bag charge to double to 10p in all shops in England (BBC News - 2021)Plastic bag charge: Where does your 5p go? (ITV News / YouTube - 2016)Recycling Bill success! (Friends of the Earth/archive.org - 2003)Curbside Recycling (Kansas City, Mo. City Communications / YouTube - 2016)The Impact of Earth Day on Modern Society (University of Maryland/archive.org - 1990)“An idea of a new approach to gain awareness is by starting to educate kids from a younger age. It is important to educate the young instead of adults because it’s harder to change an adult’s habits that date back since they were little kids. This different approach would be highly effective since humans pick up their major habits at a young age. If kids are constantly enforced to do simple tasks that help the environment when little, then by their 20s these habits will have become a daily ritual like brushing your teeth is.”
'How dare you': Transcript of Greta Thunberg's UN climate speech (Nikkei Asia - 2019)Emotional Greta Thunberg attacks world leaders: "How dare you?" (The Telegraph / YouTube - 2019)One of the largest environmental protests ever is underway. It’s led by children. (Vox - 2019)Global climate strike: Millions take to the streets to save the world (Channel 4 News / YouTube - 2019)
EPA Green Lights / Energy Star
Economic Indicators of Market Transformation: Energy Efficient Lighting and EPA's Green Lights (GALE - 2001)Introducing… The Green Lights Program (EPA - 1993)Trump rolls back EPA rules, but the agency is far from gone (PolitiFact - 2020)Debate: 11th Republican Presidential Candidate Debate Transcript (Factbase - 2016)Biden administration announces new Energy Star standards, plans for emissions targets for federal buildings (The Washington Post - 2021)Trump's plan to kill Energy Star could benefit his properties (CNN - 2017)Top 8 Reasons to Pursue ENERGY STAR Certification (Energy Star)“Energy cost savings lead to higher net operating income. Reliable, persistent energy savings make it more likely that this connection will be recognized with a higher building valuation. Numerous studies demonstrate a sale price premium from 1% - 31% among energy-efficient buildings”
Trump's Hard Power Budget (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee / YouTube - 2017)Digging Into Trump's First Budget (Bloomberg / YouTube - 2017)
Car Pollution
Kennedy, 60 Minutes, and Roger Rabbit: Understanding Conspiracy-Theory Explanations of The Decline of Urban Mass Transit (Portland State University - 1993)Debunks the popular myth that General Motors purposely caused the decline of the streetcar by purchasing and dismantling them.
The real story behind the demise of America's once-mighty streetcars (Vox - 2015)Mayor Wu Takes Steps To Expand Fare-Free Bus Service (Boston.gov - 2022)Are free buses a tool for social justice? Boston wants to find out. (The Washington Post - 2022)
Overpopulation
Is Ted Turner the real Captain Planet? (CNN - 2019)7 billion reasons to empower women (CNN - 2011)“In addition to reducing maternal mortality, providing voluntary family planning methods and education enables young women to avoid early pregnancy, allows more girls to attend school longer, makes it possible for women to have fewer, healthier children and helps break the inter-generational cycle of poverty.”
Why you shouldn’t obsess about “overpopulation” (Vox - 2018)Overpopulation and Environmentalism (Greenpeace - 2021)“The Population Bomb, a book which first popularized this idea, was based on the author Paul Ehrlich’s experience in a crowded city in India. It advocates for incentives and coercion to control the population—specifically targeted at non-white people.”
The Dangerous Myth of Overpopulation (The World Mind - 2021)“It provided a foundation for Social Darwinism which advocates for the restriction of particular family’s sizes through any possible method. For example, in 1601 the English Poor Law was implemented by Queen Elizabeth I in order to provide food for the poor; following the publication of Malthus’s treatise, this was severely diminished by the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834. The passing of such an amendment was justified using the Malthusian logic that helping the poor only encourages them to reproduce thus exacerbating their poverty. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s was also seen as a viable way to reduce the “surplus population” in Ireland, who was an English colony at the time. In the United States, eugenic fears of overpopulation of certain groups resulted in the Supreme Court legalizing sterilization for “undesirable” citizens in 1927. As a result, approximately 70,000 Americans were forcibly sterilized.”
Debunking the Myth of Overpopulation (Rebel News - 2020)“70% of greenhouse gasses emitted since 1988 have been produced by just 100 multinational corporations. If 750 million of China’s, India’s and Africa’s poorer population stopped producing carbon altogether, while ExxonMobile, BP, Toyota and Volswagen etc. continued to operate as usual, the effect on global carbon emissions would be minimal.”
Ted Turner urges global one-child policy to save planet (The Globe and Mail - 2010)Where in the world do people emit the most CO2? (Our World In Data - 2019)OPINION: The overpopulation myth is an example of ecofascism. Here’s Why. (Green Is The New Black - 2021)Eco-fascism: justifications of terrorist violence in the Christchurch mosque shooting and the El Paso shooting (Open Democracy - 2019)Worldwide food waste (UN Environment Programme)Ted Turner | Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose / YouTube - 2008)“We have Global Warming because too many people are using too much stuff”
Millionaires/Billionaires
Private planes, mansions and superyachts: What gives billionaires like Musk and Abramovich such a massive carbon footprint (The Conversation - 2021)Includes Billionaire Emissions graph
How the rich are driving climate change (BBC - 2021)How to fight an economic war (Business Green - 2022)Rupert Murdoch and the Art of War (New York Magazine - 2009)“The bitter rivalry between Turner and Murdoch had its origins not in a media deal, but the prestigious Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race.”
Cable News Feud Has Personal and Political Roots (New York Times - 1996)Ted Turner: The Maverick Mogul Reflects on His Legacy, Big Deals and Old Feuds (Variety - 2019)“Rupert and I have long since made amends. Years ago (I was out of the media industry at that point), I invited him to lunch at Ted’s Montana Grill in New York, and we had a great time catching up.”
Nestle Water
Nestle told to stop spring water diversions in San Bernardino Forest (Reuters - 2021)Nestlé is still taking national forest water for its Arrowhead label, with feds' help (Desert Sun - 2019)The Fight To Stop Nestle From Taking America's Water To Sell In Plastic Bottles (The Guardian - 2019)