About

Mission

Captain Planet Foundation works collaboratively to engage and empower
young people to be problem-solvers for the planet.

“When we connect with nature, we heal ourselves. When we protect nature, we heal the planet.“
Ted Turner

What We Do

CPF executes its mission both as a program operator and as a grant-maker. Over the past 30 years, more than 1.6 million children have directly participated in CPF’s programs, which have funded 3,300+ projects, impacting 10.5 million young people.

CPF’s operating programs include: Project Learning Garden which has provided 530+ U.S. elementary schools with onsite learning laboratories and healthy food access; Project Hero which is a nationwide, web-based learning platform for K-12 students to save locally threatened and endangered species & ecosystems; Project Giving Gardens which puts school gardens and young urban gardeners to work in the summer months to provide fresh, organically-managed produce to food banks and food pantries; and Planeteer Alliance, a global network of young people who are putting their passion and impatience for change into ACTION for the planet.

Through its four main program areas, CPF invests in high-quality, solution-based programs that empower youth to become environmental stewards and global environmental changemakers:

EcoSolution Design Challenges

We support youth-led, solution-oriented projects that address environmental, social, and justice problems.

Project Learning Garden

We work with schools to create sustainable garden programs that become outdoor learning laboratories and increase food access.

Project Hero

We empower youth to catalyze their empathy to help locally threatened and endangered species and ecosystems.

Planeteer Alliance

We advance the development of leadership and functional skills that allow young activists to successfully implement changemaking campaigns.

Why We Do It

The environmental challenges facing the planet today and into the foreseeable future defy old answers and rote solutions. Climate change, habitat and biodiversity loss, population growth and migration, resource depletion, globalization – these changes present complex problems that will demand a different set of skills from the next generation of global citizens.

Tomorrow’s problem solvers need to be able to: think critically and creatively; examine and explore situations; innovate and design workable solutions; and see the relationship between local & global systems. They need to be active and motivated citizens who have learned to embrace their empathy and work together to create a sustainable, livable future for all. These future leaders, professionals, scientists, and citizens are today’s PreK – 12th grade students.

Captain Planet Foundation is committed to empowering them with the skills, knowledge, and relationships they’ll need to create & contribute to a community of solutions for the planet.