
Captain Planet is getting the Hollywood treatment by none other than real-life Captain Planet, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Leonardo DiCaprio is working on a "Captain Planet" movie.IMDB
According to The Hollywood Reporter, DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions is teaming up with Paramount for a Captain Planet film adaptation of the 1990s cartoon about an environmental superhero and five teenage Planeteers from across the world who fight against eco-villains. Scream Queens actor Glen Powell and writing partner Jono Matt have been tapped to write the script.
The movie doesn't sound like your typical blockbuster superhero flick. In a grim and gritty twist, the story will take place many years after the show's adventures took place. Captain Planet has fallen from grace and is now a “washed-up has-been who needs the kids more than they need him," The Hollywood Reporter writes.
In the original animated series, which ran from September 1990 to December 1992, five youths and their magical rings use their powers of Earth, Air, Wind, Fire and Heart to summon Captain Planet to fight environmental baddies and take "pollution down to zero."
Unfortunately, it looks like the Oscar-winning actor will not be starring in the film. Even with his vast resume, DiCaprio has never starred in a comic book movie. Maybe he was put off by the captain's green mullet?
If you're looking to get your DiCaprio fix, his latest documentary Before the Flood has the actor and activist traveling around the world and talking to world leaders and scientists about the dangers of climate change and ways to fight against it. You know, real-life planet saving stuff.
The documentary will debut Oct. 30 on the National Geographic Channel. Watch the trailer here:
At first glance, you wouldn't think avocados and almonds could harm bees; but a closer look at how these popular crops are produced reveals their potentially detrimental effect on pollinators.
Migratory beekeeping involves trucking millions of bees across the U.S. to pollinate different crops, including avocados and almonds. Timothy Paule II / Pexels / CC0
<p>According to <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/beekeeping-how-to-keep-bees" target="_blank">From the Grapevine</a>, American avocados also fully depend on bees' pollination to produce fruit, so farmers have turned to migratory beekeeping as well to fill the void left by wild populations.</p><p>U.S. farmers have become reliant upon the practice, but migratory beekeeping has been called exploitative and harmful to bees. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/health/avocado-almond-vegan-partner/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported that commercial beekeeping may injure or kill bees and that transporting them to pollinate crops appears to negatively affect their health and lifespan. Because the honeybees are forced to gather pollen and nectar from a single, monoculture crop — the one they've been brought in to pollinate — they are deprived of their normal diet, which is more diverse and nourishing as it's comprised of a variety of pollens and nectars, Scientific American reported.</p><p>Scientific American added how getting shuttled from crop to crop and field to field across the country boomerangs the bees between feast and famine, especially once the blooms they were brought in to fertilize end.</p><p>Plus, the artificial mass influx of bees guarantees spreading viruses, mites and fungi between the insects as they collide in midair and crawl over each other in their hives, Scientific American reported. According to CNN, some researchers argue that this explains why so many bees die each winter, and even why entire hives suddenly die off in a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.</p>Avocado and almond crops depend on bees for proper pollination. FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels / CC0
<p>Salazar and other Columbian beekeepers described "scooping up piles of dead bees" year after year since the avocado and citrus booms began, according to Phys.org. Many have opted to salvage what partial colonies survive and move away from agricultural areas.</p><p>The future of pollinators and the crops they help create is uncertain. According to the United Nations, nearly half of insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, Phys.org reported. Their decline already has cascading consequences for the economy and beyond. Roughly 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on bees and other pollinators for free fertilization services worth billions of dollars, Phys.org noted. Losing wild and native bees could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-bees-crop-shortage-2646849232.html" target="_self">trigger food security issues</a>.</p><p>Salazar, the beekeeper, warned Phys.org, "The bee is a bioindicator. If bees are dying, what other insects beneficial to the environment... are dying?"</p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Australia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. It is home to more than 7% of all the world's plant and animal species, many of which are endemic. One such species, the Pharohylaeus lactiferus bee, was recently rediscovered after spending nearly 100 years out of sight from humans.
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