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TV 1990–1996

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

When five kids from around the world got magic rings powered by earth, fire, wind, water, and heart, they could summon Captain Planet—a blue-skinned, green-mulleted eco-superhero bent on saving the planet from corporate villains and environmental destruction. Premiering in September 1990, the show became the unlikely flagship of early-90s kids' environmentalism, complete with a celebrity voice cast that included Whoopi Goldberg, LeVar Burton, and Jeff Goldblum hamming it up as cartoon bad guys. It was earnest, bright, and delightfully weird, with a catchphrase ("By your powers combined…") that felt genuinely powerful when you were nine.

Movies 1992

FernGully: The Last Rainforest

The Australia–US eco-fable where a logger gets shrunk to fairy size — with Robin Williams improvising as Batty Koda months before Aladdin, and Tim Curry oozing menace as the toxic sludge Hexxus. Modest in theaters, immortal on classroom VHS carts.

Video thumbnail — the original rainforest rap with lyrics

Trends 1988–1999

Save the Rainforest

For a stretch of the late 80s and 90s, American elementary school ran on rainforest content: canopy diagrams on every bulletin board, endangered-species reports in every unit, and the hypnotic "Rain Forest Rap" on the TV cart until entire grade levels had it memorized. Saving the rainforest was simply THE cause.

TV 1990–1991

Toxic Crusaders

Troma took the Toxic Avenger, the mop-swinging mutant from its gory 1984 cult film, and turned him into a kids' cartoon hero leading a squad of fellow mutants against alien polluters. Thirteen syndicated episodes aired in 1991, and Playmates, fresh off the Ninja Turtles, sold neon action figures with glow-in-the-dark accessories under the tagline "They're gross, but they still get girls!"

Toys 1991–1993

Trash Bag Bunch

Galoob's tiny monster figures came sealed inside miniature trash bags. You dropped the bag in a sink, it dissolved, a tablet inside fizzed like Alka-Seltzer, and a Disposer or a Trashor floated up out of the foam. It was 1991, Earth Day was cool again, and you never knew which of the 36 you'd get.