Best environmental message in Star Trek?

[Ragitsu]

Good afternoon.

I'm curious as to what you feel is the best ("best" as in most believable within the context of the story and least ham-fisted) environmental message in a Star Trek episode. While I prefer episodes primarily centered around the topic of ecological preservation/remediation, I don't mind a slightly incongruous bit of dialogue slipped into a script dealing with another theme altogether. My own choice is a bit of a cheat, but it still fits; there's that episode of Deep Dish Nine where Quark, Rom and Nog accidentally travel back to 1940s Earth. After hearing a layman's (lay-Ferengi's?) understanding of Earth's history, Quark conveys shock - entirely genuine, mind you - that humans subjected their own planet to excessive radiation.

 

[Oddish]

Star Trek IV, especially the whale-butchering scenes on Gillian's tour.

 

[Ragitsu]

Star Trek IV, especially the whale-butchering scenes on Gillian's tour.

My memory of TVH is spotty during the best of times; what happens?

 

[Oddish]

My memory of TVH is spotty during the best of times; what happens?

Kirk and Spock are taking the tour at the institute where the whales are kept. Gillian is showing a film of a whaling crew at work, cutting up a dead whale. It's pretty gruesome.

 

[Ragitsu]

Kirk and Spock are taking the tour at the institute where the whales are kept. Gillian is showing a film of a whaling crew at work, cutting up a dead whale. It's pretty gruesome.

In other words, it fully commanded the camera's attention; it wasn't an incidental scene held in the periphery. Gotcha.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

ST: Insurrection is about exploiting a planet's resources at both the expense of the environment and the indigenous population (they didn't originate there, but they were the first to settle it), which has countless parallels here in the US and abroad throughout history and up to the present day.

 

[Kor]

At the time I thought that whole deal with warp drive damaging the cosmos, thus necessitating a warp 5 speed limit, was intriguing. But then it was largely ignored.

Kor

 

[JesterFace]

At the time I thought that whole deal with warp drive damaging the cosmos, thus necessitating a warp 5 speed limit, was intriguing. But then it was largely ignored.

Well, Voyager's nacelles did fold. =)
OTOH, why nacelles couldn't be in that position all the time?

 

[shapeshifter]

Given the plight of environment and wildlife in the wake of strip mining for resources, I nominate A Devil in the Dark.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Without a doubt, the whales in The Voyage Home. The whole movie's message seemed to be that we need to take better care of the planet, and that if we're not careful, we'll kill off life on the planet. It was essentially Star Trek's nod to environmental activism, and organizations such as Greenpeace.

 

[Orphalesion]

ST: Insurrection is about exploiting a planet's resources at both the expense of the environment and the indigenous population (they didn't originate there, but they were the first to settle it), which has countless parallels here in the US and abroad throughout history and up to the present day.

Whatever they wanted to say was completely ruined by the execution though, imo.