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In 1990, the cartoon superhero Captain Planet swooped onto TV screens all over the world. He was the brainchild of media mogul Ted Turner, and in the face of impending ecological catastrophe, he had the lofty goal of turning kids into environmental warriors.\xa0\nIn this episode, we\u2019re going to look at how Captain Planet came to be, what he aspired to do, and how much he really got done. Captain Planet\u2019s mission was noble, but was it also naive? How much of an impact can even the most well-meaning fictional superhero have on very real environmental disasters? And can we really entertain ourselves and our children into solving our hardest problems?\nThis episode was reported and produced by Olivia Briley. It was edited by Evan Chung. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung, Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.\nIn this episode you\u2019ll hear from Nick Boxer, David Coburn, Marsha Goodman, and \xa0Illac Diaz.\nThank you to Eugene Linden, Dr. Juliette Rooney-Varga, Mary DeMocker, Claire Reynolds, and Kelly Jones.\nIf you haven\u2019t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.\nIf you\u2019re a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring and all other Slate podcasts without any ads and have total access to Slate\u2019s website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.\xa0\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices