Viewers first see Gaia in the episode “ A Hero for the Earth ”( 1x1 ). The episode begins with a voiceover exclaiming , “ Our world is in peril . Gaia , the spirit of the Earth , can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet . She sends five magic rings to five special young people .” The visuals for the episode show an underground chamber with a woman sleeping soundly . Above , the evil Hoggish Greedly is using a giant machine to drill down into the ocean floor looking for oil . Besides creating an oil spill along the coastline , he drills into the sleeping chamber and the dripping water awakens the Earth Spirit . Gaia grants five children of differing ethnicities and nationalities power rings-- corresponding to earth , air , fire , water , and heart . Gaia gathers the young people and tells them that if their powers aren ' t strong enough to save the planet , then they can combine their powers to summon Captain Planet , an avatar of the Earth .
Once the children , called Planeteers , arrive to combat the oil drilling machine , they use their powers to destroy sections of the machine , but it is too big and powerful for them to beat using individual powers , so they summon Captain Planet who arrives and battles the rig and Hoggish Greedly , destroying the machine and sending Greedly scurrying away . In the aftermath of a massive explosion of the rig , Captain Planet tells the Planeteers his work is done , but theirs is just beginning . He has started these children on a radical environmental crusade .
Throughout the show ' s run , they explored many environmentally important topics ranging from clean air and water , to deforestation , to pollution . However , the way they approach this environmentalism is a bit troublesome . In many episodes , they do not sit down and seek conservation regulations or work in the parameters of
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