Charlie Brown has had a somewhat frustrating relationship with Mother Earth. There’s the annoying tree that always eats Charlie Browns kite. His baseball field was transformed into a garden by his friends.
The Peanuts gang has always cared about the Earth through their comic strips and TV specials. Charlie and his pals will now be featured in two new nature-related specials this month for Earth Day, and Arbor Day.
It’s the Small Things Charlie Brown is on Apple TV+ beginning April 15, and there’s a new short animation. Series “Take Care”Peanuts.com will launch a new series called “We Need Our Trees”, on April 12th. This release coincides with the 150th Anniversary of Arbor DayThis year.
The first is when the kids are getting ready for the neighborhood tournament of baseball. Charlie’s little sister Sally is bonded with a dandelion at the pitchers mound, and it threatens their big game.
We should stick together, Sally says to the dandelion. Dont worry. I will be there for your every need. I promise.
Sally defends what other people call a small, insignificant plant. It becomes the motivation for the gang’s environment to improve.
The Earth-friendly theme is not new. The characters often misunderstood the nature of the natural world early on. Lucy, for example, insisted that the Earth had 48 suns. Snoopy, Linus and Linus worked tirelessly to plant a garden. They planted it with French Fries.
Peanuts also shares educational content for students from kindergarten through sixth grade in Arbor Day. It focuses on the importance of trees for humans, animals, and the Earth.Peanuts is part the ongoing global tree-planting campaign with the Arbor Day Foundation SOS Mata Atlntica, a non-profit that protects the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The projects include planting trees in Chicago community gardens and restoring forests in Nepal.
Jean Schulz (widow of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz) spoke to Treehugger on how Charlie Brown and his buddies, along with their creator (aka “Sparky”), have always been conscious of and care for the environment.
Treehugger – Peanuts has many themes. We see friendship, resilience, and acceptance. But Mr. Schultz is quoted as saying Peanuts is about nothing. How would your describe some of the themes you believed were always there?
Jean Schulz:My favorite themes would be friendship and living. Peanuts teaches you how to live a happy life, how to overcome your mistakes, and how to forgive them. I believe he meant that it wasn’t about any one thing.
Peanuts Worldwide
He first started to talk about the environment and the human effect on the Earth in the 70s. Is this a conscious decision or a reflection of his feelings and interests?
One of the first themes surrounding the environment is Lucy telling Linus somethings and, of course she tells Linus the wrong thing. Then he’ll find out. [the truth]Or she’ll just ignore it. It’s always done with humor. Even feeding the birds. Woodstock is notified that the bread crusts have been thrown out and he says “blech” because it’s not his favorite food.
I just gave a talk about an exhibition at The [Charles M. Schulz]Museum and there is a sweet photo of Sparky as a 3-year-old or 4-year-old with big eyes. Sometimes little children are just taking in everything, even though they’re not saying or doing anything. I thought the same thing when I saw this picture. Sparky is taking in everything. He observes the dynamics of the relationships in the house. There is always someone who knows everything, and then there are others who just sit outside and take it all in.
So, it was never. I’m going write this to make people think different. He did the things that entertained him. The whole story about Charlie Brown’s kite in a tree and the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]He was the one who came after him. Although it was in his conscious, it wasn’t a conscious effort. “I’m going write a series that will make people think about the natural world,” he said.
Peanuts Worldwide – “We Need Our Trees.”
Peanuts should be addressing the environment with these two new features.
Peanuts Worldwide was the first to develop the Take Care initiative. This was before the pandemic. They thought it was time, but it was actually the Peanuts marketing team who realized that Peanuts could do something. In a world that seems to be struggling to take care of itself, it was the marketing department that saw the potential for Peanuts to do something. It was a great idea that was largely ignored at the start of the pandemic. Then, it became a strong initiative and we started making Take Care videos. They now produce longer videos, but they are still focused on the classic Peanuts themes thanks to our partnership with Apple.
It has always been appropriate, it has always been there. But this seemed like a good time to do something important. It’s a good feeling in Peanuts to think that we can sell people the idea of reforestation, in addition to selling T-shirts. I have been to Nepal and know that the forest there is being cut down for fuel. A small patch of forest was being reforested at about 11,000ft above our location when I was there. This is the picture I have of a tiny postage stamp that shows trees that have been planted or have grown.
Peanuts Worldwide
Mr. Schultz stated that he was a bit of each character he created, and not just one. What do you think? Did you have a favorite or most relatable character?
Before Sparkys, Sally was in the strip. Sally was not pleased with his comments. He gave Sally two expressions. I’m a little like Sally, not knowing what’s happening. I don’t speak to buildings, but I might.
I wanted to highlight the curricula for schools K-6th grade. It’s fantastic that we’re giving our Peanuts content to schools so they can get a little more attention.