Opposite page: Courtesy of Philippe Cousteau; this page, from top: Kip Evans; Çapkin van Alphen/Van Alphen Visuals
Left, from top:
Fabien Cousteau
is developing
PROTEUS, the
world’s largest
underwater
research habitat;
Céline Cousteau’s
newest film
is Tribes on
the Edge.
PROTEUS concept. Fabien also runs a
nonprofit called the Fabien Cousteau
Ocean Learning Center in New York.
Since 2016, it has facilitated programs
in sea turtle, coral reef, and mangrove
restorations as well as beach cleanups.
“Providing access to the ocean is para-
mount in creating change and bringing
the human-ocean connection to the fore-
front,” Fabien says. “As my grandfather
said: ‘People protect what they love,
they love what they understand, and
they understand what they are taught.’”
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Fabien’s father, Jean-Michel, the
82-year-old son of Jacques, works under
a similar mantra. His Ocean Futures
Society in Santa Barbara, Calif., part-
ners with organizations like cruise ship
operators on marine education, and
produces educational shows and films.
One of Jean-Michel’s proudest
moments of his career was being
invited to the White House to screen a
film he made on ocean pollution in
Hawaii called Voyage to Kure. President
George W. Bush was in attendance.
“Afterwards, the president stood up
and yelled, ‘Let’s get it done!’” Jean-
Michel recalls with nostalgic gusto.
“Later, we were there when the
president declared the northwestern
Hawaiian islands the largest marine
protected area of the planet.”
Philippe Cousteau
Jacques’ grandson Philippe has
hosted and produced more than 100
hours of television. Currently, he’s the
Emmy-nominated host of Awesome
Planet. Alongside his wife, Ashlan, he is
developing a new show about ocean
conservation. In 2016, the pair pro-
duced Nuclear Sharks for the Discovery
Channel’s Shark Week, which exam-
ined the impacts of nuclear testing on
reef sharks in the Bikini Atoll.
Fifteen years ago, Philippe founded
EarthEcho International, in Washington,
D.C., which focuses on building
“a global youth movement to return the
ocean to abundance.” To date, the group
has engaged more than two million
young people in 146 countries, he says,
providing tools and knowledge to youth
leaders around the world alongside
resources to teachers. The organization
also manages one of the world’s largest
citizen science water quality programs.
“When we started EarthEcho, not many
people were talking about the impor-
tance of environmental education,” says
Philippe, who is based in Los Angeles.
“It is now a topic that the conservation
community recognizes is critical.”
Céline Cousteau
While Jacques Cousteau focused
most of his energies into oceanic efforts,
he also had a lifelong fascination in
river systems. That fascination lives on
in his granddaughter Céline, 48, who
first saw the Amazon at 9 years old
with her grandfather aboard Calypso,
where they explored the coastal and
jungle waterways for more than a year.
That experience set her on a lifelong
quest exploring the connection between
human communities and ecological
systems. It is the focus of her newest
film, Tribes on the Edge. The film centers
on the Vale do Javari, the second-largest
indigenous territory in the Brazilian
Amazon, and efforts by tribes there to
prevent exploitation. Céline, who lives
in a village outside Paris, has also pub-
lished a book in French called The World
After My Grandfather.
Alexandra Cousteau
Communal effort is the focus of
another Cousteau granddaughter,
Alexandra, 44, who supports a number
of cutting-edge marine initiatives.
“I’m a big believer that we need radical
collaboration in this space,” says
Alexandra, who learned to scuba dive
under Captain Jacques at age 7 and is
based in Paris. Recently, she has part-
nered with SeaLegacy and Oceana, two
large ocean-focused organizations, on a
search engine called http://www.sealegacy.
blue that raises funds for ocean causes.
There will also be a corresponding
mobile app. She also supports projects
in sustainable seaweed aquaculture.
“In my lifetime, we’ve lost 50% of
our oceans,” Alexandra says. “We really
need to inject new ideas and ingenuity
and start speaking a whole new
language around conservation.”
December 2020 | InspiredByPenta.com | 17
Family
Ties
31
The number
of continuous
days Fabien
Cousteau spent
in an underwater
facility, resulting
in 12 scientific
studies and 9,800
published articles.
100
Hours of television
Philippe Cousteau
has hosted
and produced
about ocean
conservation.