Barbara Pyle, co-creator/executive producer

In 1980, America’s Global 2000 Report to the President took the current trends of the planet – population pressures, overstretched resources – and projected them 20 years into the future. It read like armageddon. CNN founder Ted Turner handed me the report as my job description. I wasn’t a film-maker – I began as a photojournalist for NBC, capturing social issues in 70s New York – but he preferred that I learned to make films than for him to find another producer who understood the environmental crisis we were facing.

Captain Planet is a metaphor for international cooperation with a penchant for bad puns and 60s music. Not unlike the UN

Ted called me into his office and said: “Captain Planet.” “What’s that, sir?” I asked. He said: “That’s your problem.” And my problem it was.

We lifted the characters and locations from environmental documentaries I had made with Nick Boxer. The Planeteers and many of the characters were based on real people. The world didn’t need another male macho superhero, so we made Captain Planet the quintessential antihero. He can’t exist without the combined powers of the Planeteers. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, called them together when the degradation of the planet became too dire for her to bear.

Each Planeteer controls a power of nature: earth, wind, fire, water – and heart. Heart is the most important power, as without it there can be no compassion. Captain Planet himself is a metaphor for international cooperation, with a penchant for bad puns and 60s music. Not unlike the UN.

Never in our wildest dreams did we think our over-the-top storylines would come true. In one episode, Planeteer Wheeler renounces his powers and visits a future where flooding and food shortages are the new normal. We set it in 2025, but it is already happening.

The show became a global phenomenon: people recognised their countries and their neighbours. The merchandising was hard for me to stomach, but business does what business does. Captain Planet’s image was prohibited on single-use products. The action figures were made from plastic scrap and only recycled paper was used.

Our goal was to arm a generation with the knowledge to find more sustainable ways of living on the planet. The millennials are living proof that it worked. These adult Planeteers are growing into positions of power, bringing their knowledge to bear to make the changes we need. This work is critical, because today, it’s as if the show’s eco-villains have come to life. Opposing them are legions of inspired people worldwide, marching to combat the climate crisis. However, we are almost at the point of no return. The fate of our species – and all living things – is now truly in our hands.

Arming a generation … Earth spirit Gaia and the team of Planeteers Photograph: Hanna-Barbera/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

David Coburn, actor who voiced Captain Planet

I’d been acting professionally since I was 13, and had a voiceover career by the time of the show’s audition. They asked me to perform a scene where Captain Planet gets washed clean of toxic goo. I made a “dog shake” sound before I said my line, and got the gig.

I later discovered I’d replaced Tom Cruise, who had already recorded the first five episodes. Everyone on the voice cast was grateful to be associated with the project, and worked for minimum wage. This seemed amazing to me given some of the A-listers I recorded with: Jeff Goldblum, Meg Ryan, Malcolm McDowell … Whoopi Goldberg, who voiced Gaia, brought in her Oscar (best supporting actress for Ghost) for us to play with.

David Coburn. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

It’s fun to play a bad guy, and I enjoyed giving Captain Pollution – Captain Planet’s evil clone – a valley accent. This wasn’t a swipe at Bill and Ted, or Snake from The Simpsons: it was just the voice that, in the early 90s, represented total irresponsibility.

There was one scene where MAL, the evil computer voiced by Tim Curry, gloated about pollution causing stronger storms and melting the Greenlandic ice sheet. The show was very prophetic in many ways, and it’s alarming that the knowledge that fed into it has been ignored for so long. But I do think the conversation is changing now. Younger people are becoming more vocal and doing the job that we adults have neglected. I wrote to Greta Thunberg recently: if she’s reading this, Captain Planet would love to help out.

When production ended, I wrote to Al Gore, inspired by his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. I’d dreamed of seeing environmentalism incorporated into the school curriculum. Children are the only demographic on the planet who aren’t motivated by profit.

I was in New Zealand once for a commercial shoot, and encountered an environmental rally. Somebody had a Planeteers poster over his head, so I asked him how he knew the show. “Everyone knows Captain Planet, mate!” came the reply. I introduced myself – I had to prove I was for real by reciting my catchphrase, “The power is yours!” – and suddenly found myself on stage addressing 3,500 people while still dressed for the gym.

• The Captain Planet Foundation is currently hosting Project Learning Garden 2020. David Coburn can be heard in Detroit: Become Human.