10 Times Star Trek: Voyager Went Woke
4. Environmental Responsibility
As long as there's been industrialisation, there's been environmental campaigning. But by the 1990s it was clear we were facing a global crisis. And yet again, we wish we could say that has changed.
One thing's for sure, Voyager was not messing around with subtlety when it came to environmental matters.
Meet the Malon, a race prepared to dump their toxic waste in space and endanger people's lives rather than clean up their industrial practices. Even when offered the chance to develop a purification system, a waste ship captain turns it down in favour of the profit he can make exporting waste.
We're just going to do our best Tuvok-with-raised-eyebrow impression here.
In the episode Night, we learn that a waste ship's captain is fully aware that the area of space they're polluting is inhabited. As Torres would say in a later episode:
How many worlds are you willing to contaminate to keep your own home so tidy?
The 1980s saw public outrage when the dumping of hazardous waste in poorer countries was exposed. In 1992, the Basel Convention came into force, restricting cross-border dumping, and by the time Voyager hit our screens, stricter amendments were already in the works.
Juggernaut expands the Malon's nauseating tale of corporate negligence and environmental exploitation. When disaster occurs on a waste ship, the crew is more concerned about reaching a safe distance than trying to avoid a massive toxic spill.
We did say that Voyager wasn't messing around on this one.
The Cloud dealt with a slightly different issue. Voyager enters a nebula to harvest particles needed to boost their energy supplies. But they soon realise that the nebula is a living organism that they inadvertently hurt. And quite rightly, Janeway decides it's their responsibility to help heal the injury they caused.
It's a story that's reminiscent of the ozone layer crisis. Just a few years earlier, more drastic measures were added to the Montreal Protocol to allow the ozone layer to heal. There was also the literal 'Call to Action' over the degradation of coral reefs, alongside growing concern about the impact of deforestation.
All of these things have one theme in common. We made this mess...it's our responsibility to help the planet heal from it.
But the episode Thirty Days took environmental activism to a whole new level. An ocean planet is facing destruction, and cutting back oxygen-mining could help. But the government has little interest in pursuing that solution. So Tom Paris takes matters into his own hands, attempting to disable one such facility to help save the ocean. While the episode makes it clear that there were consequences for Tom's extreme actions, it has a message that's hard to ignore.
Looks like Tom is actually the poster boy for third chances..?