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Cousteau Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

By | Posted on 06/06/2008

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The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation recognizes the icon for his influence of ocean stewardship.

In recognition of his lifelong commitment and global influence on the appreciation of the ocean planet and its stewardship, and for the establishment of the Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Jean-Michel Cousteau was honored by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation at its annual Leadership Awards Dinner on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Jean-Michel Cousteau
”Whether you ask a 60-year-old or a 6-year old, they have experienced the ocean through the works of Jean-Michel,” said Bob Talbot, chairman of the foundation’s Board of Trustees and celebrated photographer and filmmaker. “He has helped establish public awareness and compassion for our ocean planet in a way that transcends global boundaries and generations, inspiring people to care about the stewardship of our ocean life.”

Cousteau, son of the famous Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, has been educating and influencing generations of ocean advocates and would-be explorers around the world. A trained architect well ahead of his time, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s designs embraced what now has become commonplace in the architectural world of “Green Design.” Although significant, his land-based career was short-lived, since he returned to the sea in the late 1960s, where he began organizing and documenting the now famous ocean travels aboard the Calypso.

Cousteau has been revisiting some of these famous travels and documenting the changes over time that have resulted from human effects. Through his Ocean Futures Society and his PBS Ocean Adventures documentary in 2006, Voyage to Kure, Cousteau inspired President George W. Bush to designate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as the first National Marine Monument.

“I’ve always believed real change comes from the heart. To make real change, you must appeal to the heart,” Cousteau said. “That’s what I have always tried to do through my films. Inspire curiosity and a sense of responsibility through the heart.”

A repeated Emmy award nominee and winner of the prestigious Peabody Award for his documentary work on the Mississippi, Cousteau has produced more than 85 TV specials, and he continues his work as executive producer, filmmaker and explorer of marine and ocean issues. Traveling the globe to lecture to tens of thousands of students on ocean issues, Cousteau and his team are dedicating all of their energies to guiding the Ocean Futures Society into one powerful “Voice for the Ocean.”

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Leadership Awards Dinner was held in conjunction with the 2008 Capitol Hill Ocean Week, a three-day symposium that features ocean policy experts from government, private industry, nonprofit organizations and academia. Participants sought to raise awareness of the important ocean and coastal issues among the nation’s leaders and build bridges among various ocean constituencies.

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is the private, nonprofit partner to the federally managed National Marine Sanctuary Program. It was created to inspire all people to preserve, protect and promote the nationwide network of marine sanctuaries. The 14 sites within the national marine sanctuary system protect oceans and lakes from the Florida Keys to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Lake Huron to the Gulf of Mexico. To learn more, click here.

Laurel Bryant represents the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

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