Ain't Got the Power

The Amazon was dying, and so was the rest of planet Earth. Far as Ma-Ti was concerned, it wasn't a question of whether the world could be saved from ecological collapse, but rather, when the collapse would happen.

Not that he'd given up entirely per se, as he, Kwame, and hundreds of people carried out reforestation work in the Amazon Rainforest. Once, this area had been slashed and burnt for cattle farming, but now, the supposedly most intelligent species on the planet (key word on "supposedly," since it was destroying said planet) was trying to rejuvenate Earth's so-called "green lung." A rainforest that covered more land than all of Western Australia. A rainforest that provided 20% of the world's oxygen. A rainforest that was being raped, as Brazil's current president loosened environmental protections and let ranchers, miners, and mercenaries pour into the area. As a child, he'd once had an encounter with people like that – people who saw the Amazon as nothing more than a resource to be exploited. He'd hoped that after nearly three decades of being part of the Planeteers that the world might change, but it hadn't. If anything, it had gotten worse.

So here he was. Planting trees. A knife was cutting through the rainforest, and all he had to offer was miniaturized band-aids. Out of the corner of his eye he looked at Kwame, as he used his ring to open up numerous holes in the ground for saplings to be planted in. He saw Kwame glance at him, and in response, Ma-Ti busied himself with his own sapling.

Don't come over Kwame. I'm fine.

"You alright Ma-Ti?"

I told you not to come over. He nevertheless looked up at his friend – over forty years old now, and looking more like a man in his early sixties. His hair was turning grey, his forehead had more wrinkles than Ma-Ti had fingers, and when he spoke, it was with a deeper, more weary voice.

"Fine," Ma-Ti murmured.

Even his own voice felt alien now. He remembered when as a mere child, he'd been brought to Hope Island. Given the power of heart, which was, according to Gaia, the "greatest power of all." In hindsight, she'd imparted a lie to him that day. And on the same day, so had Captain Planet himself. Two lies that had weighed on him over the decades as he came to realize the truth – the planet couldn't be saved.

"Here," Kwame said. He handed Ma-Ti some water. "Looks like you need it."

Ma-Ti grunted and looked up at the smoke-filled sky. "I think the Amazon needs it more than we do."

Kwame chuckled. "Fair point."

It wasn't a joke. Nevertheless, he took the water and swilled it down. It was winter, but here in Brazil, that didn't make much difference. The people who wore what might called "normal clothes" were drenched in sweat, and looking at his own people, the people who'd lived here for thousands of years and were fighting to save their home as much of the planet, weren't faring much better. He took another sip of the water as Kwame sat down beside him.

"Listen, Ma-Ti…are you alright?"

Ma-Ti grunted again.

"Obviously not."

He handed the water back to Kwame. "Honestly, I don't know how you're alright."

Kwame's eyes darkened. "Who says I am?"

"But you're here," Ma-Ti said. "You're helping lead reforestation of the Amazon, while Gi is walking on plastic in the Pacific, and Wheeler and Linka are fighting the political battle in North America and Europe."

"And?"

"And you only fight a battle if you think you can win it." He went back to his sapling, hoping that Kwame got the hint that the conversation was over.

"You don't think we can win, do you?" Kwame murmured.

Ma-Ti remained silent.

"Ma-Ti?"

"Go on Kwame. The people need you."

"Ma-Ti, we've known each other for nearly thirty years. The least you could do is answer me."

Ma-Ti glanced back at Kwame. His friend, in spite of everything. And, he reflected, he couldn't blame Kwame, or any of the others, for any of this. They'd tried to sound the alarm, as had thousands of others. Only the people who ran the world were quite content to burn it, as long as they got to be king of the ashes in the aftermath. It was why places like the Amazon were aflame. Why the Arctic was burning.

"Ma-Ti?"

"No," he said. "I don't think we can win. We lost our chance ten years ago. The whole world did."

Kwame remained silent.

"You know, Gaia told me once that heart was the greatest power of all," Ma-Ti continued. "And it was a lie. The world doesn't need hearts, or prayers, or hearts and minds, or any of that. And do you know why?" He gestured to the people around them. "Because there's billions of people in the world who understand just how bad the situation is. Their hearts and minds don't need changing. And the people whose hearts do need changing can't be changed, because they're…they're…"

"Morons?" Kwame asked.

"Monsters."

Kwame frowned, and so did Ma-Ti. "You don't agree," the younger Planeteer murmured.

"We fought monsters," Kwame murmured. "Doctor Blight. Duke Nukem. Verminous Skumm. Zarm."

"We did," Ma-Ti said. "Well, you did – all I could do was help summon Captain Planet." He put the dirt around his sapling and sat down beside it, meeting Kwame's gaze. "But I've realized now that they weren't the ones we had to worry about. Anyone could look at Duke Nukem and see he was a mutant. Anyone could look at Hoggish Greedly and see that he wasn't right in the head, let alone his body. But Looten Plunder? Sly Sludge? They're the people we had to be afraid of. The people who promised the world development, and prosperity, not telling them that their methods would only work in the short term."

Kwame didn't say anything, but given the look in his eyes, Ma-Ti saw the tacit conceding of the point.

"It was a lie," Ma-Ti said. "Heart. Its power. All of it. All I can do now is plant some trees."

"Why?" Kwame murmured.

"Pardon?"

"Why? If it's all so hopeless, why do it?"

Ma-Ti shrugged. "Vain hope that I might be wrong. That the Earth can be saved. That the creatures inhabiting it can be saved."

Kwame sighed. "I've known you since you were a child Ma-Ti. I never thought you'd become so cynical."

Ma-Ti shrugged. "Gaia lied to me. Captain Planet lied to me. Why wouldn't I be cynical?"

Kwame frowned. "I don't follow."

Ma-Ti sighed. "The power is yours. That's what he said. That's what we said to every do-gooder we met, like it was some bloody catchphrase. Heck, we even included it in the rap album we released in '96."

Kwame groaned, but smiled. "Oh God. That."

In spite of everything, Ma-Ti smiled, albeit only for a moment. "Thing is though – the power isn't yours. It's ours."

"Excuse me?"

"Look around you Kwame. World's burning. Amazon's burning. Part of the reason it's burning is because people have intentionally lit fires. World's running out of land, it's running out of water, the population's still going up, as is consumption, and the world's just as tense now as it was when we became Planeteers – right after the Cold War ended."

"And?"

"And the power isn't 'yours' – individual actions don't matter. But if the power is 'ours,' if actions are undertaken as a collective? Well, then there's hope." He sighed. "Captain Planet should have said that the power is ours. Not yours."

Kwame frowned. "Aren't you getting into semantics?"

"Maybe," Ma-Ti murmured. "But I…" He sighed. "You know I miss it sometimes? Back when we had actual villains to fight against. Not when the greatest threat to humanity was humanity itself."

"That's a pretty dim view to take."

"We elected people into power. Those same people have let corporations ravage the planet. So, no. Humanity did it. And for whatever reason, Gaia let us keep these." He held up his hand in front of Kwame, the Ring of Heart shining under the winter sun. "Sometimes I wonder why I even hang onto this."

Kwame got to his feet and patted Ma-Ti on the shoulder. "I think you know," he said, before walking off.

Ma-Ti grunted. "Hope?"

"Only you know, Ma-Ti. But maybe heart can save the Earth. Maybe the next generation can succeed where ours failed."

Ma-Ti fought the urge to laugh. The protests being held from London to Brisbane. From Bangladesh to Canada. Extinction Rebellion. Zero Hour. Groups that the media were calling part of the global Planeteer Movement. But as gratifying as it was to know that they'd made a mark on the world, it was less gratifying to know that the Earth was still dying. That like the Amazon, it was still burning. That he'd likely die before civilization collapsed, while those in the movement would live long enough to see the house their ancestors had built collapse around them.

So why am I even here?

The Amazon was his home. At the very least, he had to try and save it. And, he supposed, as he began planting another seedling, save the planet as well.

However unlikely a prospect that seemed right now.

A/N

This was based on two ideas, so to speak. The first was an article I read basically claiming that the show's catchphrase "the power is yours" was misplaced - that it assigns the onus of environmental responsibility to the individual, when in reality, nothing can change without collective action. That may seem like a nitpick, but the article actually made a compelling argument. The other was a YouTube video explaining why some environmentalists dislike the show, because the exagerated nature of the villains made them strawmen. Now, I'm not too sure about that argument, because my take is that you can basically divide the villains in the show into two categories - those who want to get rich, damn the consequences (e.g. Hoggish Greedly and Looten Plunder), and those who are basically eco-terrorists (Duke Nukem, Doctor Blight, etc. - technically Zarm could fit into this category as well).

So, fair enough, why am I writing this now? Well, seriously, do you have to ask at this point? Yes, I'm pissed. I'm pissed that the Amazon's burning, I'm pissed that the permafrost is thawing, I'm pissed that we've known about climate change since the 1890s, and we're still not moving fast enough. Obviously I'm kind of preaching to the choir here, but if I've pissed anyone off by getting "too political" here, I don't care. Seriously. I can't afford to be apolitical when the planet's literally burning.