The Cousteau Society
The Cousteau Society is a nonprofit,
membership-supported organisation dedicated to the protection
and improvement of the quality of life for present and future
generations. Founded in 1973 by Captain Jacques-Yves
Cousteau, the Society now has more than 150,000 members worldwide.
The Society believes that only an informed and alerted public
can best make the decisions necessary to protect and manage the
world's natural resources.
Cousteau teams have explored the
water system throughout the world for over forty years. Their
unique explorations and observations have been documented in
over forty books, eight sets of filmstrips, four feature films
and more than one hundred television documentary films that have
helped millions of people to understand and appreciate
the fragility of life on our Water Planet.
In the recent nine-year "Rediscovery
of the World" series produced for global television distribution,
its two research vessels, Calypso and Alcyone,
circumnavigated the Earth. Most recently, the expedition to the
Caspian Sea probed the pressures of progress on one of the world's
greatest inland bodies of water. Films to date have included
studies of Haiti, Cuba, the Marquesses Islands and the Tuamotu
Archipelago, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand,
the Andaman Islands, Borneo, Indonesia, Madagascar, South Africa,
Lake Baikal and the Amazon, Mekong, Danube and Yellow rivers
among others. Currently, Cousteau teams are carrying out an expedition
to the St. Lawrence River of Canada.
Its scientific research has involved
a wide spectrum of activities. Beginning with the co-invention
of the Aqualung, Cousteau teams have led in the development of
underwater technology with systems ranging from underwater habitats
to submarines and imaging systems. Cousteau engineering teams
developed the wind ship, Alcyone, and its unique wind-propulsion
system of Turbosail™ cylinders. Through cooperation with
independent scientists, expedition research includes projects
that range from measuring the contribution of nutrients in rivers
to the global ocean system, to developing new methods to measure
primary productivity in the sea, to using new resource management
techniques to assess the sustainability of development projects.
The Society speaks in testimony
and counsel to governing bodies and leaders on issues of global
concern, such as the protection of whales and coral. In 1990,
the Society launched a petition drive to protect Antarctica,
the last vast pristine expanse on Earth, as a natural reserve
dedicated to peace and science; it was at the forefront of efforts
that culminated in the international protocol which guarantees
the prohibition of mineral activities for at least fifty years
and implements a number of environmental protection measures.
In the 1980s, working with the
Society's Council of Advisors, Captain Cousteau defined a new
approach to decision-making, named Ecotechnie., that integrates
the environment with technology, and natural and social sciences.
With UNESCO, the Society is establishing chairs of Ecotechnie.
studies at universities around the world.
In keeping with its commitment
to future generations, the Society drew up a Bill of Rights for
Future Generations. A global petition campaign was launched in
May 1991, and generated millions of signatures. A revised and
expanded version has been approved by the Executive Committee
of UNESCO and is expected to be submitted to the General Assembly
at an upcoming session.
Education efforts directed toward
members, classrooms and the general public include distribution
of bimonthly publications Calypso Log and Dolphin
Log; individual information packets on a variety of environmental
subjects; statements on developing issues and participation in
special events. The Cousteau Society is also working to
expand its presence on the Internet to make its 25 years of informative
material more readily available to a global audience. For
more information e-mail cousteau@infi.net. |
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