A Legacy for All
By Philippe Cousteau
The name Jacques Cousteau is synonymous with exploration, adventure, and care for our planet. To many he was a hero, an icon and a man who peeled away the veil that had shrouded the oceans in mystery for our entire history…but to us, he was papa grand.
While people often associate him with the ocean, his vision and experience went way beyond the marine world. One dinner in particular still impresses us to this day. It was the winter of 1996 and we were visiting our grandfather in NY at his favorite restaurant. He was in town for a meeting of the United Nations and after catching up on family stories and the latest news he turned to us, smiled and began to take the discussion in what, at first, seemed like a rather odd direction. He spoke of the rights of women in developing countries and how critical it was to empower them. The connection to conservation and sustainability soon became clear as he spoke of the positive role women can play if given the opportunity. Empowered women have fewer children and are more likely to have the resources to educate them properly and advance the course of their society. He reminded us, that while men often squander their money on frivolities, women spend it on improving the lives of those around them. The main crisis we face on this planet, he told us, is population and the only cure is to advance the cause of women. Doing so will lead to fewer people, fewer draining of resources, less pollution and reduced carbon emissions – to name but a few.
Our grandfather was a visionary. He had spent enough time traveling and exploring to understand and appreciate the interconnectedness of the world. One of the most precious things he ever taught us was to always examine the challenges we face in a global context and have the courage to seek solutions no matter what.
But the grander vision of conservation and sustainability was not always a part of his work. When our grandfather explored the oceans for the first time; it was a journey of pure discovery. Many of the things that he and his team saw few, if anyone, had ever seen before. They were also the first to capture those images on film, and share them with the wider world. Indeed, we always encourage people to watch two films made by our grandfather many years ago. “Silent World” and “World Without Sun” both won academy awards and showcase Jacques Cousteau as he captured images of the reefs off the coast of Southern France and the Red Sea in the 1950s and 1960s.
We both grew up with tales about his adventures, about how awestruck he was by what he glimpsed in those early days. We were raised on stories of when he took his first breath underwater and descended onto those reefs. However, we were also raised on stories of how devastated he was by what has happened to those very same reefs, which are now desolate and barren.
As time went on the journey became less about pure exploration of nature and more about understanding the urgent need to protect the precious wonders of the world that were disappearing before his very eyes. As our father, Philippe Cousteau Sr. got involved in the 60’s and 70’s as Vice President of the original Cousteau Society and producer, director and cinematographer for 26 episodes of ‘The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” (for PBS) Jacques accelerated the shift from just the discovery of nature, and dedicated his life to exploration of the world in the context of humanity’s relationship to it as an integral and often powerful force for change.
Our own life experiences have seen dramatic evidence of humanity’s potential to drastically alter the natural world. From Alexandra’s recent expeditions across the world from India, Africa, and the Middle East to Southeast Asia, Australia, and beyond for her Blue Legacy project to my expeditions to Africa, Tasmania, the Arctic and Med to film a series for BBC and Discovery Channel, the reality we face is still stark and alarming.
And now, for us, the natural progression of our grandfather and father’s legacy continues, and it challenges us to realize that we all have a role to play in being part of the solution. The old adage used to be that to make a difference you had to do something. Our message is everything that you’re doing today – right now – is making a difference. The issue we all have to confront is this: Is the difference helping or hurting? Every action we take – every item we purchase, every light switch we flip, every mile we drive, every meal we eat, every politician we elect, every action we take makes a difference. The preservationist John Muir said it best when he said: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
Our family has always sought to make a positive difference, because, while we are proud to have the Cousteau name; we are not a Cousteau only because of the name. The fact is, that the Cousteau spirit of conservation and care for the environment lives on through us because of our actions, not our birth certificates.
As our grandfather once wrote. “We can find happiness in protecting the world around us not only because we cherish it for its awesome beauty, power, and mystery, but because we cherish our fellow humans, those who live today and those who will live tomorrow, living beings who, like ourselves, will increasingly depend on the environment for happiness and even for life itself.”
And, that is a legacy we can all share.