Ocean Futures - An evening with Jean-Michel Cousteau

This week I had the great good fortune to attend a lecture by Jean-Michel Cousteau at the University of Buffalo, as part of their Distinguished Speakers Series.

Some of you may remember the IMAX film presentation of Coral Reef a film by Michele and Howard Hall? I had a wonderful evening with their presentation at Toronto's Science Centre a couple of winters ago. I was expecting that sort of an intimate setting with Jean-Michel.

Wow was I in for a surprise! The event was sold out - there were just a few empty seats in view of the awful weather that night. The Centre for the Arts at UB's North Campus is HUGE! The Auditorium probably seats over a thousand people. It was packed!

Jean-Michel is a wonderful speaker - did you know he was a recipient of the Legends of Diving Award in 2003? Just to name one of his many distinguished awards. I could have listened to Jean-Michel's stories all night, but then they were all diving related.

He showed several film clips from his Ocean Adventures documentaries, the longest was about the Hawaiian Northwestern Islands. The sequence with the Humpback whales was breathtaking.

Jean-Michel had a sense of fun, was engaging, charming and above all persuasive.
The message that night was "Protect the Ocean and you protect yourself". One of his vignettes was that he wins his goals not so much by arguing, pleading or even negotiation; he wins by showing people his films and images. I could not agree more.

I left last night's presentation with a renewed passion for the ocean (including our beloved Great Lakes), and of sharing that passion with as many people as I can.

Jean-Michel Cousteau heads a foundation called Ocean Futures at http://www.oceanfutures.org/default.asp where you can learn more, or even sign up for free to receive newsletters or offer support.

If you ever have an opportunity to watch his documentaries or, even better, see him in person, take the time to see him! You won't be disappointed.