Cousteau: The Next Generation

The storied sea captain’s progeny takes the helm

Carrie Vonderhaar/Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Future Society
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Sit down with a Cousteau and you get schooled: They'll tell you that Earth's surface is 70 percent water—there's a reason astronauts see a blue ball from space; our food chain begins in the oceans; and, of course, we need water to live. "By the way, we're running out of it," declares Jean-Michel Cousteau, the white-bearded son of legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, at his nonprofit Ocean Futures Society (OFS) in Santa Barbara, California. His office is cluttered with old photographs, nautical charts, and family memorabilia; Jacques' iconic red cap sits center shelf. "The water we have left? We're treating our supplies—the oceans, the rivers, the lakes, and the streams—like a garbage dump!

"This has frustrated us all our lives," Jean-Michel continues heatedly, the us presumably being the Cousteaus, all of whom have followed their patriarch into the deep. "My dad hated to fail, and at the end I truly &shy;believe he felt like a failure, because a lifetime of work...and nothing had changed."

How depressing! For almost half a century, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who died at 87 in 1997, traveled the world on his famous vessel, the Calypso, from the Yucatán to the Antarctic, capturing it all on film for us to enjoy on rabbit-eared TVs over Swanson dinners. He pioneered scuba diving by inventing the Aqua Lung, created waterproof cameras to make his films, wrote over 50 books, and won three Oscars. Boldfacers from Grace Kelly to Fidel Castro clamored for a spot aboard. In France today, the Cousteaus are quasi-royalty: "Worldwide, our name is more well-known than the Kennedys'—and carries with it more goodwill," insists granddaughter Alexandra, 33, who cofounded educational nonprofit EarthEcho International with her brother, Philippe Jr., and mother, Jan.

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