Jean-Michel Cousteau

French Explorer | Environmentalist | Educator | Film Producer

Who am I

Explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer--- for more than four decades Jean-Michel Cousteau has used his vast experiences to communicate to people of all nations and generations his love and concern for our water planet.

Since first being 'thrown overboard' by his father at the age of seven with newly invented SCUBA gear on his back, Jean-Michel has been exploring the ocean. The son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel spent much of his life with his family exploring the world's oceans aboard 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.

Jean-Michel's Ocean Futures Society, a non-profit marine conservation and education organization, serves as a 'Voice for the Ocean' by fostering a conservation ethic, conducting research, and developing marine education programs. He has produced over 70 films and been awarded the Emmy, the Peabody Award, the 7 d'Or - the French equivalent of the Emmy, and the Cable Ace Award.

Jean-Michel travels the globe, meeting with world leaders and policymakers, both at the grassroots level and the highest echelons of government and business, educating young people, documenting stories of change and hope, and lending his reputation and support to help energize alliances for positive change.

Through Ocean Futures Society, Jean-Michel continues to produce environmentally oriented 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 February 2002, Jean-Michel became the first person to represent the environment in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Jean-Michel joined seven other highly esteemed individuals who represented the five continents symbolized in the Olympic Rings and the three tenets of the Olympics, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, John Glenn, Lech Walesa and Steven Spielberg.

In 1997 on Earth Day, Jean-Michel led the first undersea live, interactive, 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. 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. Also in 1998, he was a spokesperson for the United States Pavilion at Expo '98 in Lisbon, Portugal.

 

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