Project Hero Activating empathy for the planet
By Courtney Kimmel I
MAGINE THIS. YOU ARE TEACHING about the impact of human activities — whether from urban devel- opment, industrial agriculture, or illegal activity — on the
environment, habitats, and species that live with us on Earth. This conversation naturally leads to the rapidly increasing rate of species extinction. A few bright eyes get wider with concern. One hand goes up and before you can call on them, they eagerly ask, “What can we do about it?” In that moment, we as educators have a choice — we can
fan that spark of empathy into a fire of action and urgency, or we can snuff it out and teach that apathy is an acceptable response. The motivation behind the design of Project Hero, a free, new national program offered by the Captain Planet Foundation, is to provide a tool and pathway to lead students towards meaningful action and to ultimately catalyze empa- thy into action. This program connects K–12 students with local at-risk animals and plants and empowers them to design and implement real-life solutions.
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A unique nexus The Captain Planet Foundation? Yes, if you are thinking of the animated TV series “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” you are correct! And do you remember the general prem- ise behind the show? It was a group of kids from around the world — the “Planeteers” — who had magic rings. When they saw environmental degradation occurring, they would summon their superhero, Captain Planet, by holding their rings high in the air and yelling “By our powers combined!” Then off they would go to solve the problem. Think about that for a second — kids of different ethnicities and from dif- ferent geographies conjuring their collective power to solve environmental problems. That has been the crux of the Captain Planet Founda-
tion’s work for almost 30 years — to engage and empower young people to become collaborative change-makers for their schools, communities, and the planet. The non-profit was co-founded in 1991 by media mogul Ted Turner and has reached more than one million young people and funded more than 2,100 hands-on environmental education projects with schools and non-profits serving children in all 50 US states and in 26 countries.
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Photos by Courtney Kimmel
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