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Chat Room Chat Room
Explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer: for more than four decades Jean-Michel Cousteau has used his vast and varied experiences to communicate to people of all nations and generations his love and concern for our water planet. Jean-Michel made history February 8, 2002, becoming the first person to represent the environment in an Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Jean-Michel joined seven other highly esteemed individuals, who personify inspiration, in carrying the Olympic Flag into the stadium in Salt Lake City, where it flew as a symbol of the principles of the Olympic games, which include sport, culture, and the environment. The eight dignitaries, who represented the five continents symbolized in the Olympic Rings and the three tenets of the Olympics, included Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Africa), John Glenn (The Americas), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Asia), Lech Walesa (Europe), and Cathy Freeman (Oceania) Jean-Claude Killy (Sport), Steven Spielberg (Culture), and Jean-Michel Cousteau (Environment).
Since first being "thrown overboard" by his father at the age of seven with SCUBA gear on his back, Jean-Michel has been exploring the ocean realm. The son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel spent much of his life with his family exploring the world's oceans aboard the research vessels Calypso and Alcyone. After his mother's death in 1990 and his father's in 1997, Jean-Michel founded Ocean Futures Society in 1999 to carry on this pioneering work. Responding to his father's call to "carry forward the flame of his faith," Jean-Michel's Ocean Futures Society, a non-profit marine conservation and education organization, serves as a "Voice for the Ocean" by developing marine education programs, conducting research, and fostering a conservation ethic. Jean-Michel serves as an impassioned, eloquent spokesman and diplomat for the environment, reaching out to the public through a variety of media. He has produced over 70 films, and been awarded the Emmy, the prestigious Peabody Award, the 7 d'Or - the French equivalent of the Emmy, and the Cable Ace Award.
Today, as President of Ocean Futures Society, Jean-Michel travels the globe educating young people, documenting stories of change and hope, and meeting with world leaders and policymakers, both at the grassroots level and the highest echelons of government and business, where his reputation helps energize alliances for positive change . Through Ocean Futures Society, Jean-Michel continues to produce environmentally oriented family programs and television specials, public service announcements, multi-media programs for schools, web-based marine content, books, articles for magazines and newspaper columns, and public lectures, reaching millions of people all over the world. In 1997 on Earth Day, Jean-Michel led the first-ever undersea live video chat on Microsoft Internet, from the coral reefs of Fiji celebrating the International Year of the Reef and answering questions from 'armchair divers' throughout the world via the Internet. In April 1998, highlighting the International Year of the Ocean, Jean-Michel participated in a live downlink from the Space Shuttle Columbia to CNN New York, discussing NASA's contribution to ocean awareness with astronaut marine biologist, Rick Linnehan. In 1998, Jean-Michel Cousteau was a spokesperson for the United States Pavilion at Expo "98" in Lisbon, Portugal.
Acting on a childhood dream to build cities under the sea, Jean-Michel pursued a degree in architecture, graduating from the Paris School of Architecture in 1964. He remains a member of the Ordre National des Architectes, the French counterpart of the American Institute of Architects. Artificial floating islands, schools, and the headquarters of an advanced marine studies center in Marseilles, France are among his projects. More recently he has been involved with the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort, an endeavor committed to being an environmentally and culturally oriented family resort, putting into practice and proving to the business community the economic benefits achieved by exercising environmental concern. In order to expand the impact of this type of experience and to encourage ecologically responsible diving, he created L'Aventure Jean-Michel Cousteau, his flagship dive operation, located at the resort that bears his name in Fiji.
In recognition of his many and diverse contributions to learning, Pepperdine University awarded Jean-Michel an Honorary Doctor's Degree in Humane Letters in 1976. In recent years he received DEMA's 1994 Reaching Out Award and the 1995 NOGI Award from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences. In 1996, Jean-Michel was awarded the SeaKeepers Award from Showboats International, and the John M. Olguin Marine Environment Award from the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. In 1998, Jean-Michel was presented with an Environmental Hero Award by Vice President Al Gore during the National Ocean Conference in Monterey, California. Partnerships Jean-Michel Cousteau serves on the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Board of Trustees, as well as on the boards of SeaKeepers International, Heal the Ocean, Green Cross International, and as an advisor to Earth Communications Office, (ECO), the Clean Beaches Council, and Windows on our Waters. Recent partnerships include working with the National Resource Defense Council and the International Foundation for Animal Welfare to protect Gray Whales and San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico. He is a Governor of the Trustees of the British Virgin Islands National Parks, USA. |
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