When your resume lists your skills set as eco-advocate, adventuress and granddaughter of the incomparable Jacques Cousteau, expectations are instantly set high. Fortunately, the possessor of the resume has the aplomb with which to carry forward the legacy place on her slim shoulders.
With her natural beauty and worldliness, it could be forgiven if she choose to give up the hard work and dedication attached to the family name, but that would be to deny her destiny and the earth a tenacious defender of its natural resources.
My fascination with the Cousteau family began National Geographic media, both television and magazine, who would amaze with their photography, filmmaking and their choice of subjects.
Cousteau inspired me in many ways as a young adult. I wanted to become a marine biologist, a scuba diver and to raise the conscientious of others as to the plight of marine life such as the Humpback Whale (I joined Save The Whales, precursor to Greenpeace), dolphins, sharks. My high school binder was bold colored photograph of something Cousteau.
Cousteau was not pedantic in his manner nor was there any pretense or false airs while educating others. He allowed the natural splendor of the sea and its animals to tell the tales while he filmed them. Through his eyes, sharks, whales and other ocean inhabitants were made beautiful and worthy of preservation.
He and his son Phillipe traveled the world, as early educators about the earth's fragility. Bestowed with this legacy is eco-activist, Alexandra Cousteau. She inherited the calm, steely determination of her grandfather as well as his gift for change vis a vis education and example rather eco-terrorist tactics.
Of her father and grandfather, Cousteau says, "The best example they gave me was the importance of living a life of consequence, value, and meaning. I honor their memories by creating a legacy of my own in speaking out for the preservation of our blue planet and all its waters."
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