Show Ocean explorer speaks at Redwood I Adriana Herrera Community Staff Reporter A crowd of students filled the Student Event Center last Wednesday afternoon to hear afew a afew few words from oceanographer Fabien Cousteau With his fun outgoing personality Cousteau prefers to be call called d an explorer rather than an an n oceanographer His parents are arc French and he h has s moved a total of 23 times throughout his his' life Cou Cousteau did his undergraduate work at Boston University and went to graduate school at NYU He can remember being interested in scuba diving at the age of four He constantly enjoyed being in the water Cousteau said that the two people that most influence his life are his father and his grandfather He recalls what they would always say to him even as a young child My grandfather always says people protect what they love and my father would say how can can we protect what we dont don't understand said Cousteau This is what most influenced my life His interest really started when he was about seven He wanted to go to the theatre to watch Jaws it had just come out but his parents wouldn't allow him to see it He ended up going without the approval Thus began his interest in sharks Cousteau said he was so enticed by the movie that he began asking many questions in front of his parents without realizing ng it He was grounded for fora a month grandfather Jean- Jean Mi Michel hc Cousteau was was' wasa a sold soldier er erin in World War II and was told that his leg would need to be amputated because his injury was irreversible Cousteau refused the amputation and began water therapy Being in the water vater gave him a new idea an idea that he was never able to do until now Cousteau started a documentary tary in the entitled Silent World and by 1956 it had been nominated for an Oscar Award He later signed with ABC and made Underworld with Jean Cousteau Within family his mother father grandfather and sister are all part of Ocean Futures Society a profit non-profit marine conservation and education organization founded in 1999 Cousteau his grandfather and Cousteau Continued on f i i lit l' l 4 it y y 1 1 4 ii 1 I ir j rI r. r Co t f of jt Ij 1 r wC fi iI 1 Globe Photo by Adriana Herrera Fabien Cousteau a world oceanographer spoke in Redwood Campus Campus' Student Event Center on September 26 Cousteau visits Continued from Al I sister made a documentary called Sharks at Risk a PBS series that was vas nominated for an Emmy Award in 2006 After Cousteau made a afew afew afew few documentaries he went into business I started going into the business world Cousteau said Then I realized I wasn't happy J. J I wasn't t doing what I loved so I went back into documentaries Cousteau made a documentary for National Geographic entitled Attacks of the Mystery Shark Some time later CBS asked if he would be willing to do another one He was very excited because CBS allowed him to talk about sharks the way he wanted to and not the way National Geographic wanted him to His most recent documentary The Mind of the Demon was very different than he had ever done before He had an old friend and acquaintance build a 1000 pound artificial shark Cousteau would be put inside the artificial shark to film the documentary Cousteau assumed the shark would take a year to complete three the project was complete and and they were ready to begin filming He described being inside this artificial bulletproof bulletproof bulletproof bullet proof shark He said he had to lie on his stomach propped up on his elbows with his head tilted far up He explained that it was very uncomfortable and challenging I I had to be the pilot camera man and observer all at the same time said Cousteau They began trying to look for sharks to start filming but had no luck during the day so they decided to start filming at night He talks about one night where he was scared for his life He was in the artificial shark communicating to his crew on a small boat up above Before anyone knew it he had drifted so so far faraway away that he lost communication He realized that he had drifted from the site and thought of only two options I I could have floated to the top with the shark and waited for them to find me Cousteau said Or OrI I could have anchored it to the bottom and floated myself to the top Either way it was very dark and I Iwas Iwas Iwas was in an area where there was a strong current He decided to anch anchor r the shark to the bottom He swam yards to the surface and followed an elephant seal for some time Fortunately he was later found After all the documentaries Cousteau has done he is more interested in saving our oceans He talked about a time when he visited Kure Kurc Hawaii and found eight to 10 feet of trash in inthe inthe inthe the beautiful part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands He was so upset about it that he went to President Bush who understood the problem and signed that part of the Hawaiian Islands as a National Monument This means outsiders can only go there by tour boat We are losing one species every 10 minutes Cousteau said We arc are all contributors we can canall canall canall all easily be a part of the solution He suggested writing letters to our congress cutting back on how much water we use buy plastics that are not made from oil and be aware of what kind of offish fish you eat According to Cousteau many restaurants are not environmentally friendly Meaning they are offering fish that may be in danger of extinction is proud to say that he has converted six restaurants to be environmentally sensitive wanted everyone to do their part to help our oceans and says Its much easier to learn leam to dance in natures waltz than it is to change the music |