“Earth…Fire…Wind…Water… Heart!”
“By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!”
Captain Planet, he’s our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero
He’s our powers magnified
And he’s fighting on the planet’s side…
Tasked to reflect on Victor Hugo’s quote, “How sad is it to think that nature is calling out but humanity refuses to heed”, proved to be a time-table task for me. It brought me back to my past, allowed me to reflect on my present and forced me to think of my future.
1996. The cartoon show, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, was blaring from our television screen. It was a classic super hero cartoon but with a twist. From statements like “With YOUR powers combined, I am Captain Planet!”and the episode ending message “The power is YOURS!”, it was clear that this was not just an ordinary cartoon show. Its intent was also to make us, kids, aware of environmental hazards. By instilling in young minds their responsibilities, humanity, through the persona of Producer Ted Turner, has answered natures call for character change. With his gang of kids, each representing an ethnicity and coming from a major continent, Captain Planet empowered me.
At 7, I was so sure that with their nature-friendly tips between each mini-episode I could save the planet. I started insisting that my parents separate the recyclables from the non-recyclables. I reprimanded my elders when they threw trash on the sidewalk just because they could not find a trash can nearby. I simply could not understand why it was necessary to write, “Bawal Umihi Dito” (Don’t Urinate Here) on corners here in the Philippines. Truly, I was frustrated that my elders do not know any better! Didn’t they watch Captain Planet? Didn’t they know that our planet could get sick?
2008. Already 18 years old, I believe that we have come a long way from the I-don’t-care attitude of most when resources were abundant and nature’s call was seemingly still a whisper to humanity’s ears. Now that the air that we breathe is smoky and the water quality in most areas is worsening, nature’s call is a clear, blaring shout at us. Thus, various sectors have heed this call by leading their campaign to save the planet. Influential sectors comprised of Educators, businessmen, and filmmakers, have been using their authority to encourage people to do their own part.
The University of the Philippine, for example, has recently issued a no smoking rule. Abiding by the Clean Air Act, a regular test is done to check the level of pollution here in campus. Students now are on watch on the emissions of vehicles that pass through the university. Talks are being held in auditoriums on relevant issues such as global warming. These events, as well as laws passed to control pollution, is also a topic in most MST (Math, Science and Technology) classes such as Chemistry1 and Biology1.
Amazingly, even businessmen are starting to do their part. SM, the biggest mall in the Philippines, has recently launched its green bag project to their grocers. By encouraging shoppers to use and reuse the green bag during their grocery or shopping trips, they encourage us to do away with plastics, one of the most used pollutants there is. National Bookstore, the leading bookstore in the country, has also adopted this practice by introducing their red bag promo. A lot of boutiques are starting to use paper bags as well. Those who still use plastic make it a point to at least print, “Help the environment by reusing this plastic bag.”
Filmmakers have produced documentaries such like The Inconvenient Truth and The 11th Hour. In the former, Politician Al Gore sheds his stiff demeanor with an impassioned plea for us to reverse the harmful effects of global warming through personal and political impossibility. The latter, has the obvious message that we have reached the tipping point in terms of how we live and the impact we impose on our ecosystems and it is this moment that we should act before it is too late to do anything. Both are powerful, intense documentaries with clear messages that force us to face the truth, no matter how inconvenient, and act now or the consequences may be grave.
With all sectors combined, we are creating our own Captain Planet. We have our planet Earth, the burning Fire to make others aware while doing our responsibilities, the news that spread like Wind, the Heart to feel that our environment can no longer take the “shit” that we dump on it and like Water, the campaigns flow swiftly. Humanity has heeded nature’s call. It started young and it’s growing till the present. As childish as cartoons, as seriously intense as documentaries, as ordinary as shopping and as obligatory as the pursuit of education, we are all, hand in hand, no longer sitting and staring as the planet we call home is being converted into a waste land. Empowerment is suffice and action is no longer a figment of our imagination. WE ARE THE HEED TO NATURE’S CALL.
We’re the Planeteers
You can be one too
‘Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!
Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!
“The Power is Yours!”
- english essay-
jan 22, 2008
