Our History

1990 Captain Planet bursts onto the scene as the worlds newest superhero. The brainchild of media mogul, Ted Turner, Captain Planet and the Planeteers debuts as the first and only environmental superhero. Airing on September 15th, 1990, the first action-packed episode is shown on 185 stations nationwide and in more than 50 countries spanning across nearly every continent. The series breaks new ground by successfully merging children's educational programming and entertainment programming.

1991 Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) is born when Ted Turner decides to take the proceeds from this successful, educational, and entertaining cartoon series and put them into something that would inspire the very people that consumed it, youth. It didnt take long for the word to get out about the unique opportunity for schools and organizations around the world to present their environmental projects to the Captain himself in hopes to receive the seed money to grow their ideas into community service learning projects. Pretty soon CPF was receiving hundreds of proposals every year from all over the United States. The foundation became a means by which the young viewers could become Planeteers themselves and raise environmental awareness in their own schools and communities.

1996 After six seasons of heart-stomping eco-adventures, the Captain Planet cartoon series comes to end with an impressive accumulation of accolades including three Daytime Emmy nominations, three Environmental Media Awards, a Parent's Choice Award, two Genesis Awards for animal issues programming, and a commendation from Peggy Charrens Action for Childrens Television. Fortunately, Turner Broadcasting decides to keep the foundation running despite the conclusion of the cartoon.

2001 In the face of a challenging merger with AOL, Time Warner decides to shut down the Captain Planet Foundation. Two of Atlantas most dedicated environmental activists, Laura Seydel, the daughter of Ted Turner and her husband Rutherford were so impassioned by the grassroots efforts of the foundation to educate and empower youth that they saved the day by working with Time Warner to orchestrate the transition of the corporate foundation to a public charity. This same year, CPF adopts what had become a six-year, Atlanta holiday fundraising tradition, the X-MAS Party, as its annual fundraiser.

2003 CPF launches its inaugural Down to Earth Day Kids Fest. In its first year, it brought together over 500 youth and their families to celebrate Earth Day by sampling some of the amazing activities local environmental education partners have to offer the Atlanta community.

2007 CPF acquires the rights to exhibit previous episodes of Captain Planet and the Planeteers online and on-air, allowing this valuable resource to reach out and educate the children of today!

©2007 Captain Planet Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" and "The New Adventures of Captain Planet" and all characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of TBS Productions, Inc. (c) 1990-1996 TBS Productions, Inc. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Original idea by R.E. Turner.