‘The Simpsons’ 10 Best Environment-Themed Episodes, Ranked

The Simpsonshas been around for so long that the show has aired episodes about practically everything under the sun: sports, politics, holidays, showbiz, money, family, spectacle—the list goes on forever. Most episodes are about more than one thing, and subjects often collide in surprising, hilarious, and insightful ways. One topic that’s brought up plenty of times is the environment. No surprise there; Homer (Dan Castellaneta) works at a nuclear power plant, so pollution is naturally brought up many times throughout the show—though usually in passing. There are also times when the weather just plays a huge part in the storytelling, whether it be a result of man or simply a natural event. Either way, they often make the stories more relatable to a lot of people.

The Simpsons Movie is probably the most environment-conscious piece of media in the franchise: its inciting incident comes from Homer polluting Springfield Lake, the villains are the Environmental Protection Agency, and the entire town is contained in a giant dome to prevent any of its pollutants from affecting nearby areas. But this list is TV only, and there’s a lot of material to work with. Ranked by how good they are and how much they’re intertwined with the characters’ surroundings (weather, nature, wildlife, etc.), The Simpsons’ best environment-themed episodes make us laugh while becoming just a little more conscious of the world around us.

10

“Mr. Plow”

Season 4, Episode 9

Sometimes the conflict is specifically about the environment, and sometimes the conflict arises from it. Season 4’s “Mr. Plow” falls into the latter category: the snowfall is so blinding that Homer crashes his car into the family’s other car on his way home from Moe’s. Searching for a new vehicle, he stumbles upon a snow plow he can’t afford. Thanks to some good old-fashioned sexism, however, the salesman persuades him to buy it and make his money back by plowing driveways.

Homer eventually becomes the main plow guy in town, making big bucks and even getting the key to the city. Soon, however, Barney (Castellaneta) gets a plow himself and takes over all of Homer’s clients. It’s not clear why everyone turns to Barney instead (except Adam West, who found Homer too slow), and it baffles the mind that the town drunk would be given permission to plow people’s driveways (let alone have the ability to drive that well). Nevertheless, lots of fans still call it one of the best episodes ever. It’s certainly one of the snowiest.

9

“Bart of Darkness”

Season 6, Episode 1

“Bart of Darkness” is easily one of Bart Simpson’s greatest episodes, and it’s largely thanks to the sun. As opposed to “Mr. Plow,” it’s summertime in Springfield, and the temperature has skyrocketed to the point where all the kids in the neighborhood flock in desperation to whoever has a pool. When the Simpsons get a pool (and build it into a pool, which takes a while), their backyard becomes the cool place to go (pun intended).

Unfortunately for Bart (Nancy Cartwright), he takes a hard fall in preparation for a dive and breaks his leg. As a result, he starts staying in his room all day, becoming increasingly isolated and eccentric while sister Lisa (Yeardley Smith) reaps all the benefits of ephemeral popularity. This turns the episode into a fun spin on Alfred Hitchcock‘s Rear Window, and it’s still one of the top-tier parody episodes in the series. This is one of those entries where things heat up in more ways than one.

8

“Homer Defined”

Season 3, Episode 5

Who says that nuclear disasters can’t be funny? From the monumental Season 3, “Homer Defined” is just as consistently great as almost any other episode of the time. Homer is so neglectful at his job that the power plant is sent into an emergency state, and he’s the only one who can save it (along with the entirety of Springfield) from a nuclear meltdown. Lots of lives are on the line, and there’s a frighteningly short time to fix everything.

So what better method to use than eeny-meeny-miny-moe? Through dumb luck, Homer’s able to save everyone from the catastrophe he prompted. After being showered with praise and getting the awards that come with being employee of the month, Mr. Simpson feels more and more like a fraud. While the subplot has nothing to do with nature, the main one is so strong that it’s clearly among the best episodes tied in with the environment. Also, while “D’oh” is in the dictionary now, this episode makes a tremendous argument that “pulling a Homer” (to succeed despite idiocy) should be a common phrase too.

7

“You Only Move Twice”

Season 8, Episode 2

Another episode about the implications of working at a nuclear power plant, Season 8’s “You Only Move Twice” sees Homer and the Simpson clan packing up for a bigger and better life in Cypress Creek. Homer has been given a higher-paying and more powerful job working for the plant at Globex Corporation, and his boss Hank (voiced by Albert Brooks) is very nice. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Hank Scorpio is also blowing up buildings in D.C., shooting lasers at foreign countries, and who knows what else.

The company holds such a malignant presence in the world that a James Bond-like character tries to foil his plans. As much as these master plans surely affect the environment and society in general, there is also a subplot here that is more explicitly associated with nature. Lisa finds herself mesmerized by the idyllic woods in town, but she’s also allergic to so many plants that the negatives outweigh the positives. The animation is such that viewers with allergies may be tempted to go sniff some flowers anyway, though.

6

“The Call of the Simpsons”

Season 1, Episode 7

Homer wants an RV, and he wants one that’s better than Flanders’ (Harry Shearer) RV. Not the savviest shopper in the world, he tries to get a vehicle that has its own satellite and winds up getting the worst one on the planet. He also accidentally drives it off a cliff, leaving the family stranded in a forest with barely any supplies. It’s great when Lisa tries to calm Maggie down by pointing to some “birdies” in the sky: circling vultures.

Soon, the Simpson family is split into three groups: Bart and Homer, Lisa and Marge (Julie Kavner), and Maggie by herself. While the toddler befriends some bears, Lisa and her mother do some constructive work around the campsite. This totally juxtaposes the comedically difficult time that Bart and his father have fending for themselves. One of the funniest moments in the first season has got to be that “I Married Bigfoot” headline. In the end, this forgotten gem from season one demonstrates that Homer is decidedly not “an experienced woodsman.”

5

“The Old Man and the Lisa”

Season 8, Episode 21

Season 8’s “The Old Man and the Lisa” begins with the sound of recycling. Lisa wakes everyone up with the clinking of cans, working on a project at school that’s encouraging the kids to recycle. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t raise nearly as much money as Principal Skinner (Harry Shearer) hoped it would. The guy gets so mad he knocks over a tree with his car and makes the children cry. But Lisa’s not one to quit; she has her father drink a hysterically dangerous amount of beer so she can recycle the cans.

Monty Burns (Shearer) teaches the kids that common virtues are actually demons in the business world, but he also receives a few lessons himself: he learns about recycling, and he learns that he’s actually broke. After recruiting Lisa as a business partner, however, he’s able to make all his money back with Little Lisa’s Patented Animal Slurry: it’s feed for farm animals, insulation for low-income housing, an explosive, and an engine-coolant. Burns’ take is that it’s made out of “recycled animals,” making this a dark satire on how poorly humankind can treat its oceans.

4

“Bart’s Comet”

Season 6, Episode 14

“Bart’s Comet” is definitely a highlight of Season 6. After Bart discovers a comet, it soon becomes clear to everyone in town that this comet is hurtling right towards Springfield. This is alarming, and the initial plan was to shoot a rocket at the object. Unfortunately, the rocket doesn’t even come close to hitting the comet; it hits the only bridge out of town instead. In response, Homer insists that Flanders let him and his family into their bomb shelter.

The town pretty much loses hope after that, so a bunch of people pack themselves into Flanders’ shelter. The process by which they kick Flanders out is amusingly absurd, and it’s surprisingly touching that Flanders singing “Que Sera Sera” makes everyone feel guilty. Though this episode can be very funny at times, one of its most memorable moments is when Flanders sings to himself while awaiting his demise. Not to give anything away, but the climax of the episode suggests that air pollution may have a bright side after all (in jest, of course).

3

“Whacking Day”

Season 4, Episode 20

There’s a rather strange holiday in Springfield: Whacking Day. Every May 10th, the citizens go outside with clubs and beat up as many snakes as they can find. It’s difficult to believe that such a holiday could exist, but it’s actually based on a few real holidays—making this episode a hilarious satire of brutal traditions. What is the point of it all? Indeed, that’s the question that plagues Lisa as she tries to stop this macabre fiesta from occurring this year. The ecosystem relies on its inhabitants, and we can’t just kill the local wildlife for killing’s sake!

Luckily, an unexpected hero finally appears: one of the show’s greatest musician guest stars and fellow opponent of Whacking Day: the one and only Barry White. The other plot here is about Bart getting expelled and trying to get an education elsewhere, which eventually connects with the environment-based storyline. “Whacking Day” made a real-world difference as well; it inspired Toad Day Out in Queensland, Australia, during which an invasive and harmful species of toad is hunted down and humanely killed to help the ecosystem thrive.

2

“Who Shot Mr. Burns?”

Season 6, Episode 25

Mr. Burns can be pretty evil, and never more so than in the Season 6 finale: “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” First he steals oil from Springfield Elementary, but that’s just the beginning. The funds are so low at the school that Willie loses his job; the well destroys Bart’s treehouse and injures Santa’s Little Helper; it toxifies Moe’s Tavern to the point where Moe has to shut it down. Then, worst of all, Mr. Burns enacts a plot so fiendish that he doesn’t even tell Smithers about it until very late in the process: he blocks out the sun.

Why would someone do this? To have the city rely on his electrical power, of course. As Burns discloses, he doesn’t just own the power plant and oil; he also has a monopoly on water and electricity. In other words, the guy’s a businessman. By the time he plunges the entirety of Springfield into eternal twilight, many people around town want to kill him for a plethora of reasons. When it comes to episodes involving the environment, you don’t get any bigger in scope than this.

1

“Two Cars in Every Garage, and Three Eyes on Every Fish”

Season 2, Episode 4

As epic as the Season 6 finale is, Season 2’s “Two Cars in Every Garage, and Three Eyes on Every Fish” proves to be similarly large in scale. It’s also more consistently funny and sharper in its satire. This is the episode that formally introduces the famous three-eyed fish, Blinky, as Bart catches it in a lake right in front of a news reporter. After the headlines lead to an inspection of the power plant that doesn’t go well at all, it seems that Mr. Burns is going to go broke repairing his plant to align with the regulations.

That is, unless he changes the laws himself. Thus, he launches a campaign to run for governor of whatever state Springfield resides in. Though the political commentary is hilarious, Blinky returns again and again as a reminder of the story’s environmental roots: he’s in Burns’ ridiculous commercial, and Marge brings him back for the climactic dinner. Serving as the inciting incident and the way the conflict is resolved, environmental pollution is never more aptly covered in the series. In the end, the greatest political episode of The Simpsons is also its greatest environment-focused entry.

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