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Contacts: Mr. Terry Collins, +1-416-538-8712, +1-416-878-8712, tc@tca.tc; Mr. Tarik Chekchak, +33-144340609, t.chekchak@cousteau.org
Released: 1 p.m. CET (11 am GMT / 12 noon UK summer time) June 8, 2010
Francine Cousteau, widow of the late Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and their son Pierre-Yves Cousteau are available for advance interviews. Images and video are available for media preview and download at www.cousteau.org/media/pressroom. A news conference to launch the 100th anniversary will begin at 4 p.m., June 8, at UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris, Room IX.
Worldwide Centennial Celebrations
Of Jacques Cousteau’s Birth Begin
Year-long plan includes re-launch of iconic vessel Calypso for marine education tour; new Cousteau Divers program
Documentary with National Geographic to contrast conditions in Mediterranean today with Cousteau’s films of the 1940s
Legendary marine explorer, inventor, innovator, filmmaker and environmental activist Jacques Cousteau was born June 11, 1910 in Saint André de Cubzac, a small town in southwest France.
To mark the centennial of his birth, the Cousteau Society is launching a year-long celebration in Paris with Cousteau’s global legion of admirers, and welcomes proposals from around the world .
The re-launch and tour of Calypso, the ship aboard which Cousteau created many of the world’s first glimpses of deep-sea life, will highlight the end of the centennial in 2011.
Instantly recognizable by his red cap and gaunt silhouette, Cousteau was just 33 when he co- invented the aqualung that enabled divers to explore ocean depths for extended periods, opening a window to an entire world then virtually unknown to humankind.
1
He went on to pioneer many areas, including documenting the sonar-like capabilities of dolphins, public demonstrations to protect the oceans from radioactive dumping and over-exploitation, and mass communication of marine research through films and television.
1
In order to protect them, Captain Cousteau left the Cousteau Society and Equipe Cousteau as exclusive beneficiaries of his name, work and image, and any initiative that draws from that heritage requires prior approval (cousteau100@cousteau.org)
In 1996, the year before his death at age 87, Cousteau’s historic Calypso was sunk and badly damaged when a barge in Singapore accidentally rammed it. Today the vessel is in the Brittany region of France being refurbished under the direction of the Cousteau Society and l’Equipe Cousteau, led by Francine Cousteau, widow of the late explorer.
Calypso will be re-purposed as a touring educational exhibition, to include the Cousteau-designed one- and two-person mini-submarines, the underwater scooters, aqualungs, diving suits, cameras and other emblematic equipment used during his expeditions, which earned him countless awards including Emmys, Oscars and the Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film Festival.
Built at the height of the Second World War in Seattle, Washington, Calypso was commissioned as a British minesweeper in 1943, served briefly as a post-war ferry, and was acquired in 1950 by Irish millionaire and former MP Thomas Loel Guinness, who leased it to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc per year.
It was outfitted to Cousteau’s specifications in 1950, including a mobile lab to support his research and a unique “false nose,” used as an underwater observation chamber.
“It has been many years since this renowned ambassador for the seas and oceans last sailed,” says Madame Cousteau. “We need help to complete Calypso’s refurbishment, but we are extremely pleased and excited by the prospect of her touring again – the inimitable iconic Mona Lisa of the ocean – to continue the mission of Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s life, fostering appreciation of both the beauty and fragility of the seas.”
Says son Pierre-Yves Cousteau: “If he were alive today, my father would surely be awed by the technology and skill behind the work of his cinematic successors, who share my father’s philosophy that ‘people protect what they love – and we love what enchants us.”
“He would be gratified by the creation of marine protected areas in many countries and by the growing community of scientists working to advance understanding and conservation of ocean biodiversity, such as those completing the first Census of Marine Life and its inventory of ocean species,” he adds.
“However, I know he would also be distressed by the ongoing pillage of oceans by industrialized fisheries, by those who decimate the seabed and indiscriminately harvest fish and by-catch by the
2
shipload, by the catastrophes that stem from exploiting off-shore oil resources, and by the acidification of seawater due to greenhouse gases, which threatens the health of all life on Earth.”
“In this year, the 100th anniversary of his birth, we owe it to his memory to ensure that the spirit of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his work inspires new generations,” says Pierre-Yves.
“The oceans occupy nearly 72% of our planet’s surface and they contain more than 97% of all our planet’s water. They are the place where life appeared 3.8 billion years ago and remain the largest living space in our known universe. Nevertheless, less than 20% has been explored by humans and we have already damaged most of it.” says Tarik Chekchak, the Cousteau Society’s Director, Science and Environment.
“Our research with UNESCO into how best to educate people and protect our oceans and indeed all our vital waterways is more necessary today than ever – as the tragic event unfolding this past month in Gulf of Mexico sadly demonstrates.”
Under Pierre-Yves’s leadership, the Cousteau Society is developing a monitoring program of the oceans, Cousteau Divers, which will involve the active participation of divers worldwide.
“By uniting a community of divers concerned about the marine environment, Cousteau Divers will bring the legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau to life, making each diver an agent of the study and conservation of the aquatic realm,” says Pierre-Yves.
“Using the latest communication and multimedia technologies to engage and delight its members, Cousteau Divers will transform the way people dive and play a decisive role in the preservation of the marine environment. Cousteau Divers and Dive Centers will become stewards of the oceans – raising concern, knowledge, awareness and hope around them for the future of our blue planet.”
Starting this month, Pierre-Yves will also oversee a one-month filming expedition with the National Geographic Society in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Cousteau Society ship Alcyone. The goal: to document changes in the Mediterranean since Captain Cousteau’s first films in the 1940s and promote the expansion of marine reserves by demonstrating their economic viability and efficiency.
“By filming in three marine areas that have been protected as reserves for more than 25 years, the divers will also present a picture of the spectacular extent to which biodiversity richness can be
3
restored,” says Pierre-Yves. “Using archival Cousteau footage, it is hoped this unique documentary will both raise public awareness and convince European leaders to expand marine reserves.”
The public is invited to contribute to an online book of remembrances and appreciation at www.cousteau.org .
***** - June 15-20, 2010: Launch of centennial celebrations in Brazil, Brasília and in the State of Minas Gerais;
- July 2010: Launch of the Gulf of California Porpoise project in partnership with Save Your Logo program. It is the most endangered marine mammal in the world (IUCN Red List) and the Cousteau Society is supporting the efforts of local scientists to prevent its extinction;
- October 11-29, 2010: Special Cousteau side event at the UN Biodiversity Summit, Nagoya Japan;
- December, 2010: Special side event with Mexico’s Jacques Cousteau Observatory of Coasts and Seas at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Cancún, Mexico;
- February 2011: Opening of the 2nd edition of Mediterranea, the International Festival of Underwater Pictures and Adventures, Antibes, France, organized by l’Equipe Cousteau;
- January 14-17 to June, 2011: International Diving show in Paris in homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Parc des Expositions, Paris, France. A Cousteau Legacy touring exhibition will start in France, more on www.salondelaplongee.com ;
- May, 2011: Launch of the Calypso worldwide tour and online presentation of the best Jacques-Yves Cousteau public celebration projects at www.cousteau.org;
- June 11, 2011: Centennial closing ceremony and music concert in Paris;
- Proposals for other local, national or regional events are invited via www.cousteau.org . *****
More centennial events around the world
4
The legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau
* In addition to his technological innovations in marine mobility such as scuba gear, Captain Cousteau pioneered underwater habitats, “houses in the sea,” and designed an innovative buoy laboratory.
* New underwater cameras, filters, lenses and lighting techniques opened the public’s eyes to the mysteries of an underwater world, until then virtually inaccessible. This understanding built global awareness of the fragility of marine ecosystems and motivated responsibility to respect and protect the environment.
* Two organizations for the protection of ocean life, the 30,000-member Cousteau Society and its French counterpart, l’Equipe Cousteau, currently involved in research projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the delta of the Danube River, the Red Sea and elsewhere;
* The Silent World, based on Cousteau’s great 1954 expedition in the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Indian Ocean, the first feature-length color film depicting the world underwater. In 1956, The Silent World won both the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The 1964 film, The World Without Sun, which chronicled the month-long life of “oceanauts” in an undersea base built in the Red Sea, also won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
* Some 50 books and 120 television documentaries and Emmy-winning series, including “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and “Rediscovery of the World.” Time magazine recently quoted actor and film-maker Tom Hanks on the inspiration Cousteau had been to him as a story-teller, causing the young viewer to wonder “how would I fare 20,000 leagues under the sea with a steel scuba tank on my back and a tiger shark circling my underwater cage? ‘Cousteau was unlike anything else that was on TV, and I was sad when the hour was up,’ Hanks recalls. ‘I was uninterested in science class. But boy, did I search the TV-guide listing to find out when Cousteau would be back on the air’."
French Director Jacques Perrin, meanwhile, noted that his landmark film Oceans, recently opened to high acclaim, followed "in the wake of Cousteau."
*****
5
Honors 1939-1945 – Croix de Guerre
1961 – Gold Medal, National Geographic Society. Inscribed “To earthbound man, he gave the key to the silent world”
1963 – Gold medal, Royal Geographic Society (UK) 1968 – Foreign membership, Academy of Sciences of the United States 1970 – Honorary doctorate, University of California at Berkeley and Brandeis University 1971 – Grand prix d’océanographie Albert 1er 1972 – Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Légion d’honneur 1977 – International Environment Prize, United Nations 1978 – Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, and membership, Academy of India 1979 – Honorary doctorate, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Harvard University 1985 – Grand-Croix de l’Ordre National du Mérite 1985 – Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States, presented by President Ronald Reagan 1987 – Induction, Television Academy’s Hall of Fame 1988 – National Geographic Centennial Award 1989 – Elected to the Académie française 1989 – Elected to the Academia of the Kingdom of Morocco 1996 – Governor's Award, Society of Operating Cameramen 1996 – Medal of the Order of Independence, United Arab Emirates
*****
Other selected key events:
1972 - A "first" in Antarctica when the Cousteau team explored under the icebergs and ice shelf. Calypso barely escaped the onslaught of ice and storm she encountered.
6
1975 – John Denver, singer, songwriter, actor, environmentalist and poet, dedicated Aye, Calypso to “the men who have sailed you so long and so well.” Through his generosity, the Cousteau Society still receives royalties from the song.
1980 to 1985 - Captain Cousteau's teams in France and the USA began refining a concept of economical propulsion for engine-powered ships using the wind as a supplementary energy source. This revolutionary system, the TurbosailTM allows for fossil-fuel savings of up to 35 percent. The Cousteau ship Alcyone was born in 1985, crossed the Atlantic and arrived triumphantly in the port of New York (http://www.cousteau.org/about-us/alcyone ).
1990 - Enormously successful international petition to safeguard the white continent. "Antarctica is an inestimable treasure that we must preserve intact for future generations," Cousteau proclaimed.
1990 - Jean Michel Jarre, who composed the music for Cousteau's documentary Palawan, the Last Refuge, paid homage by entitling his new album Waiting for Cousteau;
1992 - At the landmark United Nations' International Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Cousteau was given the nickname “Captain Planet” and was the only non-Head of State in the final summit photograph.
1993 - Cousteau was appointed to the UN High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development and agreed to serve as advisor on environmentally sustainable development to the World Bank. That same year, the President of France named him Chairman of a newly created Council on the Rights of Future Generations; Captain Cousteau resigned this post in 1995 to protest France’s resumption of nuclear testing in the Pacific.
1994 - Cousteau launched the UNESCO-Cousteau Ecotechnie Programme (UCEP). It promotes, in a network of universities around the world, interdisciplinary education, research and policy-making in the field of the environment and development. It is a joint effort of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) and the Cousteau Society. Sixteen university Chairs now carry the Cousteau name all over the world (http://www.cousteau.org/education/ecotechnie).
11 January 1996 - Calypso was rammed and sunk in Singapore harbor by a barge. The ship was refloated and towed to France.
25 June 1997 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau died in Paris, aged 87. He was buried in the family vault at Saint- André-de-Cubzac, France.
7
1998 - Flying the flag of the International Year of the Ocean 1998, the Cousteau Society undertook a three-month expedition to explore the entire Caspian Sea with Sir Peter Blake leading the expedition.
1999 - Expedition with the Cousteau ship Alcyone on the St. Lawrence River (Canada) into the heart of the North American continent.
2004 - Fifty years after Calypso’s first expedition to the Red Sea, the Cousteau Society returned onboard Alcyone with Pierre-Yves and Diane Cousteau together with Claude Wesly, one of the first Oceanauts (The World Without Sun), retracing the path first explored by their father.
2007 to 2009 - The Cousteau Society gathered a multidisciplinary team to carry out the most comprehensive survey of the Sudanese coast and underwater environment ever to be attempted in this region (400 km of coastline and dozens of islands and offshore reefs). Overarching the whole project was the need to provide Sudanese decision makers with the tools and information necessary to manage the predicted development of the coastal area while protecting its unparalleled natural heritage (http://www.cousteau.org/environment/iczm).
2007 to 2008 - During the International Polar Year, the Cousteau Society was a partner in the Census of Antarctic Marine Life. Eighteen icebreakers were followed on the web during several months of expeditions for the largest marine biodiversity assessment ever attempted in Antarctica.
2009 - Cousteau Society starts refurbishing the iconic vessel Calypso (http://www.cousteau.org/news/calypso-saved).
2009 - Opening of The Jacques-Yves Cousteau Observatory of Seas and Coast of Mexico, with one branch in Baja California (for the Pacific coast) and a second one in Yucatán for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts (http://www.cousteau.org/news/observatory-cousteau-merida).
2010 - Recent naming of Jacques Cousteau Island, in Baja California, by the government of Mexico (http://www.cousteau.org/news/cousteau-island).
*****
8
Quotable quotes, Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Who will prevent some industry groups from plundering the resources of ocean areas beyond territorial waters? The solution can only emerge from a new generation of human beings, fully aware of the laws of nature, aware of the need to respect ecosystems everywhere. 1970
The ocean is the main stabilizer of the Earth. It maintains the balance between various gases on which our lives depend. If the oceans of our earth were to die – that is to say if, somehow, life suddenly disappeared – it would be the final disaster in the tormented history of man and other animals that share this planet with him.
1970
When this CO2 level passes a certain point, the “greenhouse effect” would come into operation: heat radiating outward from earth to space would be trapped beneath the stratosphere, shooting up sea-level temperatures. At both North and South Poles, the ice caps would melt. The oceans would rise perhaps 100 feet in a small number of years. All earth’s major cities would be inundated.
1971
[T]he greatest material contribution of the sea to man's welfare will be in the field of energy. Our present western civilization depends on coal, oil, and natural gas – three fossil fuels that are nothing more than energy from the sun, transformed from plants and plankton in an extremely low-efficiency process, stored up through many millions of years. It is high time to find more direct access to the sun's power.
1970
One of the biggest challenges of the future may be simply to understand what should be the relationship between the sea and humans. 1970
The sea is the universal sewer.
1971
Following multiple disastrous spills of the late 1960s, the oil industry has tried to prevent some of the possible consequences of ocean drilling. But they are ineffective! An industry that spends hundreds and hundreds of millions ... to intensify its exploitation of the sea should further efforts to protect life. 1973
The story of evolution is probably the most fascinating of all we have to tell because it reaches into our very fiber. It ties all forms of life together and provides us with a common bond to plants and animals. Basically we are composed of the same substances and possess the same basic drives, making us all brother in a cosmic experiment.
1973
Mass slaughter of whales, incessant scraping of the North Sea's bottom with heavy trawl nets, killing of porpoises and dolphins in huge tuna purse nets, ravages of coral reefs by spearfishermen, hasty oil drillings in unsafe offshore areas—these are examples of how a distorted image of progress can lead to a shameless rape of the sea.
1973
9
Not only have we failed to realize that we are one people, but we have forgotten that we have only one planet. 1980
Why should we preserve a livable planet if not for our children and grandchildren.
1980
The goal of society is not survival. The goal of society is quality of life. We are fighting not for survival, but for quality of life. For happiness. People can only be happy if they marvel at nature, if they marvel at creation, if they marvel at what surrounds them. If they love it, if they protect it, if they extend into other people’s jobs and in other animals’ lives and in other planets. An extension of mind, an extension of everything.
1981
The situation of the planet is very alarming. Each time I reason, each time I try to use logic, I don’t see any possibility to change people, the deciders, to such an extent and quickly enough to save what should be saved. But that’s when I use my reason. When I use my heart, when I use my faith – and I have a stainless faith in mankind – then I become optimistic. ...A situation will arise that will awaken people, and we will suddenly understand that we have to join forces.
1985
A simple message has been clearly expressed at Rio [the 1992 Earth Summit]. However I do not agree on steps to take. [The declaration] offers continuous development. But what kind of development? What has captivated the public is permanent economic development. But the Earth can not withstand a stronger assault against its resources. Yet the [declaration] says in effect to the poor: do as the rich do.
1992
People must stop letting themselves be dragged along like ballast. They must realize that they are part- owners of our planet, and that they are called to participate actively in this greatest adventure of all time, that of the human community. 1993
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Contacts: Mr. Terry Collins, +1-416-538-8712, +1-416-878-8712, tc@tca.tc; Mr. Tarik Chekchak, +33-144340609, t.chekchak@cousteau.org
Released: 1 p.m. CET (11 am GMT / 12 noon UK summer time) June 8, 2010
Francine Cousteau, widow of the late Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and their son Pierre-Yves Cousteau are available for advance interviews. Images and video are available for media preview and download at www.cousteau.org/media/pressroom. A news conference to launch the 100th anniversary will begin at 4 p.m., June 8, at UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris, Room IX.
Worldwide Centennial Celebrations
Of Jacques Cousteau’s Birth Begin
Year-long plan includes re-launch of iconic vessel Calypso for marine education tour; new Cousteau Divers program
Documentary with National Geographic to contrast conditions in Mediterranean today with Cousteau’s films of the 1940s
Legendary marine explorer, inventor, innovator, filmmaker and environmental activist Jacques Cousteau was born June 11, 1910 in Saint André de Cubzac, a small town in southwest France.
To mark the centennial of his birth, the Cousteau Society is launching a year-long celebration in Paris with Cousteau’s global legion of admirers, and welcomes proposals from around the world .
The re-launch and tour of Calypso, the ship aboard which Cousteau created many of the world’s first glimpses of deep-sea life, will highlight the end of the centennial in 2011.
Instantly recognizable by his red cap and gaunt silhouette, Cousteau was just 33 when he co- invented the aqualung that enabled divers to explore ocean depths for extended periods, opening a window to an entire world then virtually unknown to humankind.
1
He went on to pioneer many areas, including documenting the sonar-like capabilities of dolphins, public demonstrations to protect the oceans from radioactive dumping and over-exploitation, and mass communication of marine research through films and television.
1
In order to protect them, Captain Cousteau left the Cousteau Society and Equipe Cousteau as exclusive beneficiaries of his name, work and image, and any initiative that draws from that heritage requires prior approval (cousteau100@cousteau.org)
In 1996, the year before his death at age 87, Cousteau’s historic Calypso was sunk and badly damaged when a barge in Singapore accidentally rammed it. Today the vessel is in the Brittany region of France being refurbished under the direction of the Cousteau Society and l’Equipe Cousteau, led by Francine Cousteau, widow of the late explorer.
Calypso will be re-purposed as a touring educational exhibition, to include the Cousteau-designed one- and two-person mini-submarines, the underwater scooters, aqualungs, diving suits, cameras and other emblematic equipment used during his expeditions, which earned him countless awards including Emmys, Oscars and the Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film Festival.
Built at the height of the Second World War in Seattle, Washington, Calypso was commissioned as a British minesweeper in 1943, served briefly as a post-war ferry, and was acquired in 1950 by Irish millionaire and former MP Thomas Loel Guinness, who leased it to Cousteau for a symbolic one franc per year.
It was outfitted to Cousteau’s specifications in 1950, including a mobile lab to support his research and a unique “false nose,” used as an underwater observation chamber.
“It has been many years since this renowned ambassador for the seas and oceans last sailed,” says Madame Cousteau. “We need help to complete Calypso’s refurbishment, but we are extremely pleased and excited by the prospect of her touring again – the inimitable iconic Mona Lisa of the ocean – to continue the mission of Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s life, fostering appreciation of both the beauty and fragility of the seas.”
Says son Pierre-Yves Cousteau: “If he were alive today, my father would surely be awed by the technology and skill behind the work of his cinematic successors, who share my father’s philosophy that ‘people protect what they love – and we love what enchants us.”
“He would be gratified by the creation of marine protected areas in many countries and by the growing community of scientists working to advance understanding and conservation of ocean biodiversity, such as those completing the first Census of Marine Life and its inventory of ocean species,” he adds.
“However, I know he would also be distressed by the ongoing pillage of oceans by industrialized fisheries, by those who decimate the seabed and indiscriminately harvest fish and by-catch by the
2
shipload, by the catastrophes that stem from exploiting off-shore oil resources, and by the acidification of seawater due to greenhouse gases, which threatens the health of all life on Earth.”
“In this year, the 100th anniversary of his birth, we owe it to his memory to ensure that the spirit of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his work inspires new generations,” says Pierre-Yves.
“The oceans occupy nearly 72% of our planet’s surface and they contain more than 97% of all our planet’s water. They are the place where life appeared 3.8 billion years ago and remain the largest living space in our known universe. Nevertheless, less than 20% has been explored by humans and we have already damaged most of it.” says Tarik Chekchak, the Cousteau Society’s Director, Science and Environment.
“Our research with UNESCO into how best to educate people and protect our oceans and indeed all our vital waterways is more necessary today than ever – as the tragic event unfolding this past month in Gulf of Mexico sadly demonstrates.”
Under Pierre-Yves’s leadership, the Cousteau Society is developing a monitoring program of the oceans, Cousteau Divers, which will involve the active participation of divers worldwide.
“By uniting a community of divers concerned about the marine environment, Cousteau Divers will bring the legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau to life, making each diver an agent of the study and conservation of the aquatic realm,” says Pierre-Yves.
“Using the latest communication and multimedia technologies to engage and delight its members, Cousteau Divers will transform the way people dive and play a decisive role in the preservation of the marine environment. Cousteau Divers and Dive Centers will become stewards of the oceans – raising concern, knowledge, awareness and hope around them for the future of our blue planet.”
Starting this month, Pierre-Yves will also oversee a one-month filming expedition with the National Geographic Society in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Cousteau Society ship Alcyone. The goal: to document changes in the Mediterranean since Captain Cousteau’s first films in the 1940s and promote the expansion of marine reserves by demonstrating their economic viability and efficiency.
“By filming in three marine areas that have been protected as reserves for more than 25 years, the divers will also present a picture of the spectacular extent to which biodiversity richness can be
3
restored,” says Pierre-Yves. “Using archival Cousteau footage, it is hoped this unique documentary will both raise public awareness and convince European leaders to expand marine reserves.”
The public is invited to contribute to an online book of remembrances and appreciation at www.cousteau.org .
***** - June 15-20, 2010: Launch of centennial celebrations in Brazil, Brasília and in the State of Minas Gerais;
- July 2010: Launch of the Gulf of California Porpoise project in partnership with Save Your Logo program. It is the most endangered marine mammal in the world (IUCN Red List) and the Cousteau Society is supporting the efforts of local scientists to prevent its extinction;
- October 11-29, 2010: Special Cousteau side event at the UN Biodiversity Summit, Nagoya Japan;
- December, 2010: Special side event with Mexico’s Jacques Cousteau Observatory of Coasts and Seas at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Cancún, Mexico;
- February 2011: Opening of the 2nd edition of Mediterranea, the International Festival of Underwater Pictures and Adventures, Antibes, France, organized by l’Equipe Cousteau;
- January 14-17 to June, 2011: International Diving show in Paris in homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Parc des Expositions, Paris, France. A Cousteau Legacy touring exhibition will start in France, more on www.salondelaplongee.com ;
- May, 2011: Launch of the Calypso worldwide tour and online presentation of the best Jacques-Yves Cousteau public celebration projects at www.cousteau.org;
- June 11, 2011: Centennial closing ceremony and music concert in Paris;
- Proposals for other local, national or regional events are invited via www.cousteau.org . *****
More centennial events around the world
4
The legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau
* In addition to his technological innovations in marine mobility such as scuba gear, Captain Cousteau pioneered underwater habitats, “houses in the sea,” and designed an innovative buoy laboratory.
* New underwater cameras, filters, lenses and lighting techniques opened the public’s eyes to the mysteries of an underwater world, until then virtually inaccessible. This understanding built global awareness of the fragility of marine ecosystems and motivated responsibility to respect and protect the environment.
* Two organizations for the protection of ocean life, the 30,000-member Cousteau Society and its French counterpart, l’Equipe Cousteau, currently involved in research projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the delta of the Danube River, the Red Sea and elsewhere;
* The Silent World, based on Cousteau’s great 1954 expedition in the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Indian Ocean, the first feature-length color film depicting the world underwater. In 1956, The Silent World won both the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The 1964 film, The World Without Sun, which chronicled the month-long life of “oceanauts” in an undersea base built in the Red Sea, also won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
* Some 50 books and 120 television documentaries and Emmy-winning series, including “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and “Rediscovery of the World.” Time magazine recently quoted actor and film-maker Tom Hanks on the inspiration Cousteau had been to him as a story-teller, causing the young viewer to wonder “how would I fare 20,000 leagues under the sea with a steel scuba tank on my back and a tiger shark circling my underwater cage? ‘Cousteau was unlike anything else that was on TV, and I was sad when the hour was up,’ Hanks recalls. ‘I was uninterested in science class. But boy, did I search the TV-guide listing to find out when Cousteau would be back on the air’."
French Director Jacques Perrin, meanwhile, noted that his landmark film Oceans, recently opened to high acclaim, followed "in the wake of Cousteau."
*****
5
Honors 1939-1945 – Croix de Guerre
1961 – Gold Medal, National Geographic Society. Inscribed “To earthbound man, he gave the key to the silent world”
1963 – Gold medal, Royal Geographic Society (UK) 1968 – Foreign membership, Academy of Sciences of the United States 1970 – Honorary doctorate, University of California at Berkeley and Brandeis University 1971 – Grand prix d’océanographie Albert 1er 1972 – Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Légion d’honneur 1977 – International Environment Prize, United Nations 1978 – Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, and membership, Academy of India 1979 – Honorary doctorate, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Harvard University 1985 – Grand-Croix de l’Ordre National du Mérite 1985 – Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States, presented by President Ronald Reagan 1987 – Induction, Television Academy’s Hall of Fame 1988 – National Geographic Centennial Award 1989 – Elected to the Académie française 1989 – Elected to the Academia of the Kingdom of Morocco 1996 – Governor's Award, Society of Operating Cameramen 1996 – Medal of the Order of Independence, United Arab Emirates
*****
Other selected key events:
1972 - A "first" in Antarctica when the Cousteau team explored under the icebergs and ice shelf. Calypso barely escaped the onslaught of ice and storm she encountered.
6
1975 – John Denver, singer, songwriter, actor, environmentalist and poet, dedicated Aye, Calypso to “the men who have sailed you so long and so well.” Through his generosity, the Cousteau Society still receives royalties from the song.
1980 to 1985 - Captain Cousteau's teams in France and the USA began refining a concept of economical propulsion for engine-powered ships using the wind as a supplementary energy source. This revolutionary system, the TurbosailTM allows for fossil-fuel savings of up to 35 percent. The Cousteau ship Alcyone was born in 1985, crossed the Atlantic and arrived triumphantly in the port of New York (http://www.cousteau.org/about-us/alcyone ).
1990 - Enormously successful international petition to safeguard the white continent. "Antarctica is an inestimable treasure that we must preserve intact for future generations," Cousteau proclaimed.
1990 - Jean Michel Jarre, who composed the music for Cousteau's documentary Palawan, the Last Refuge, paid homage by entitling his new album Waiting for Cousteau;
1992 - At the landmark United Nations' International Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Cousteau was given the nickname “Captain Planet” and was the only non-Head of State in the final summit photograph.
1993 - Cousteau was appointed to the UN High-Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development and agreed to serve as advisor on environmentally sustainable development to the World Bank. That same year, the President of France named him Chairman of a newly created Council on the Rights of Future Generations; Captain Cousteau resigned this post in 1995 to protest France’s resumption of nuclear testing in the Pacific.
1994 - Cousteau launched the UNESCO-Cousteau Ecotechnie Programme (UCEP). It promotes, in a network of universities around the world, interdisciplinary education, research and policy-making in the field of the environment and development. It is a joint effort of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) and the Cousteau Society. Sixteen university Chairs now carry the Cousteau name all over the world (http://www.cousteau.org/education/ecotechnie).
11 January 1996 - Calypso was rammed and sunk in Singapore harbor by a barge. The ship was refloated and towed to France.
25 June 1997 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau died in Paris, aged 87. He was buried in the family vault at Saint- André-de-Cubzac, France.
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1998 - Flying the flag of the International Year of the Ocean 1998, the Cousteau Society undertook a three-month expedition to explore the entire Caspian Sea with Sir Peter Blake leading the expedition.
1999 - Expedition with the Cousteau ship Alcyone on the St. Lawrence River (Canada) into the heart of the North American continent.
2004 - Fifty years after Calypso’s first expedition to the Red Sea, the Cousteau Society returned onboard Alcyone with Pierre-Yves and Diane Cousteau together with Claude Wesly, one of the first Oceanauts (The World Without Sun), retracing the path first explored by their father.
2007 to 2009 - The Cousteau Society gathered a multidisciplinary team to carry out the most comprehensive survey of the Sudanese coast and underwater environment ever to be attempted in this region (400 km of coastline and dozens of islands and offshore reefs). Overarching the whole project was the need to provide Sudanese decision makers with the tools and information necessary to manage the predicted development of the coastal area while protecting its unparalleled natural heritage (http://www.cousteau.org/environment/iczm).
2007 to 2008 - During the International Polar Year, the Cousteau Society was a partner in the Census of Antarctic Marine Life. Eighteen icebreakers were followed on the web during several months of expeditions for the largest marine biodiversity assessment ever attempted in Antarctica.
2009 - Cousteau Society starts refurbishing the iconic vessel Calypso (http://www.cousteau.org/news/calypso-saved).
2009 - Opening of The Jacques-Yves Cousteau Observatory of Seas and Coast of Mexico, with one branch in Baja California (for the Pacific coast) and a second one in Yucatán for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts (http://www.cousteau.org/news/observatory-cousteau-merida).
2010 - Recent naming of Jacques Cousteau Island, in Baja California, by the government of Mexico (http://www.cousteau.org/news/cousteau-island).
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Quotable quotes, Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Who will prevent some industry groups from plundering the resources of ocean areas beyond territorial waters? The solution can only emerge from a new generation of human beings, fully aware of the laws of nature, aware of the need to respect ecosystems everywhere. 1970
The ocean is the main stabilizer of the Earth. It maintains the balance between various gases on which our lives depend. If the oceans of our earth were to die – that is to say if, somehow, life suddenly disappeared – it would be the final disaster in the tormented history of man and other animals that share this planet with him.
1970
When this CO2 level passes a certain point, the “greenhouse effect” would come into operation: heat radiating outward from earth to space would be trapped beneath the stratosphere, shooting up sea-level temperatures. At both North and South Poles, the ice caps would melt. The oceans would rise perhaps 100 feet in a small number of years. All earth’s major cities would be inundated.
1971
[T]he greatest material contribution of the sea to man's welfare will be in the field of energy. Our present western civilization depends on coal, oil, and natural gas – three fossil fuels that are nothing more than energy from the sun, transformed from plants and plankton in an extremely low-efficiency process, stored up through many millions of years. It is high time to find more direct access to the sun's power.
1970
One of the biggest challenges of the future may be simply to understand what should be the relationship between the sea and humans. 1970
The sea is the universal sewer.
1971
Following multiple disastrous spills of the late 1960s, the oil industry has tried to prevent some of the possible consequences of ocean drilling. But they are ineffective! An industry that spends hundreds and hundreds of millions ... to intensify its exploitation of the sea should further efforts to protect life. 1973
The story of evolution is probably the most fascinating of all we have to tell because it reaches into our very fiber. It ties all forms of life together and provides us with a common bond to plants and animals. Basically we are composed of the same substances and possess the same basic drives, making us all brother in a cosmic experiment.
1973
Mass slaughter of whales, incessant scraping of the North Sea's bottom with heavy trawl nets, killing of porpoises and dolphins in huge tuna purse nets, ravages of coral reefs by spearfishermen, hasty oil drillings in unsafe offshore areas—these are examples of how a distorted image of progress can lead to a shameless rape of the sea.
1973
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Not only have we failed to realize that we are one people, but we have forgotten that we have only one planet. 1980
Why should we preserve a livable planet if not for our children and grandchildren.
1980
The goal of society is not survival. The goal of society is quality of life. We are fighting not for survival, but for quality of life. For happiness. People can only be happy if they marvel at nature, if they marvel at creation, if they marvel at what surrounds them. If they love it, if they protect it, if they extend into other people’s jobs and in other animals’ lives and in other planets. An extension of mind, an extension of everything.
1981
The situation of the planet is very alarming. Each time I reason, each time I try to use logic, I don’t see any possibility to change people, the deciders, to such an extent and quickly enough to save what should be saved. But that’s when I use my reason. When I use my heart, when I use my faith – and I have a stainless faith in mankind – then I become optimistic. ...A situation will arise that will awaken people, and we will suddenly understand that we have to join forces.
1985
A simple message has been clearly expressed at Rio [the 1992 Earth Summit]. However I do not agree on steps to take. [The declaration] offers continuous development. But what kind of development? What has captivated the public is permanent economic development. But the Earth can not withstand a stronger assault against its resources. Yet the [declaration] says in effect to the poor: do as the rich do.
1992
People must stop letting themselves be dragged along like ballast. They must realize that they are part- owners of our planet, and that they are called to participate actively in this greatest adventure of all time, that of the human community. 1993
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