Jean-Michel Cousteau and Aqua Expeditions Launch Partnership Highlighting the Importance of Environmental Conservation

Hot off the presses at Aqua Expeditions and celebrating our longstanding company values supporting environmental and wildlife preservation and clean water projects, we are announcing the launch of a new collaboration and a series of exclusive luxury cruises on the Amazon and Mekong featuring world-class explorer, filmmaker, educator and environmentalist, Jean-Michel Cousteau.

Unique opportunities on these 2017 and 2018 Cousteau-hosted departures include:

• Experience the Amazon and Mekong from the perspective of a conservationist. Listen to nightly talks and join the conversation with Jean-Michel as you learn about challenges and solutions in international conservation from a true expert.
• Enjoy insider access. Meet Jean-Michel Cousteau personally in the intimacy of a small group of travelers and get to know this fun and entertaining world traveler as he shares hilarious moments from his many journeys.
• Learn from a master. Watch an experienced filmmaker in action in the field and listen to his personal approach to capturing compelling stories before you enjoy screenings of several of his award-winning films.
• Join in interactive Q&A sessions. Listen to what Jean-Michel’s learned about leading change and progress in ocean conservation. Discover the man and the vision behind the Ocean Futures Society through informal conversations over drinks.

About Jean-Michel Cousteau

Since first being “thrown overboard” by his father at the age of seven, outfitted with the newly invented SCUBA tank strapped to his back, Jean-Michel Cousteau has been exploring the ocean and furthering Jacque Cousteau’s legacy of environmental stewardship. Honoring his father’s heritage, Jean-Michel founded the Ocean Futures Society in 1999 to carry on this pioneering work. As Ocean Futures’ Chairman, President and spokesman, Jean-Michel serves as an impassioned diplomat for the environment, reaching out to the public and the media to help further his advocacy efforts and meeting with leaders and policymakers at the grassroots level and at the highest echelons of government and business. He is personally dedicated to educating young people, documenting stories of inspiring projects and impact, and lending his reputation and support to energize global and local alliances for positive change.

Cousteau’s Journeys in the Amazon

The Amazon biome, nearly the size of the continental United States, is a critical resource supporting 10 percent of the world’s known species and nearly half of the plants and animals on Earth. The Amazon’s rainforests are responsible for producing 20 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and in the process, serve an invaluable role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to alleviate the negative effects of human accelerated climate change from increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Jean-Michel’s Amazon story began thirty-five years ago (82’-83’), when he explored this remote region with his father and his family on board Calypso during their 20 months expedition with Ted Turner Broadcast. Together they marveled at the extraordinary biodiversity and complexity of the Amazon’s ecosystems and wildlife habitats. Since then, the Amazon has undergone widespread changes with expanding human populations, poorly planned development, and unsustainable resource extraction, such as gold mining, oil extraction, deforestation, and overharvesting of fish and other species now threatening its future.

©Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society

Returning to the Amazon in 2008, Jean-Michel Cousteau, together with his son Fabien and daughter Celine, traveled back to the Amazon for an intimate look at recent changes documented in the PBS feature Jean-Michel Cousteau’s: Ocean Adventures – Return to the Amazon. Combining science and discovery with expert story telling and astonishing footage, this visually compelling film recounts the challenges and uplifting stories about environmental conservation currently unfolding in the Amazon’s rainforests and waterways in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. The team investigates the crucial role of native people in sustaining the natural rainforest and river system, and visits indigenous peoples in small, remote villages, as well as in large, protected reserves. New business models such as ecotourism, fish farms, organized fish monitoring by markets and fishermen, and developing and exporting sustainable rainforest products and medicines are all examples of potential solutions to global issues which stand as testaments to progress being made in the Amazon.

©Tom Ordway, Ocean Futures Society

International Acclaim

With over 80 films to his credit, as well as producing environmentally oriented television programs, documentary films, public service announcements, educational multi-media programs, books, magazine and newspaper articles, and public lectures, Jean-Michel has received worldwide acclaim and has been awarded the Emmy, the Peabody Award, the Sept d’Or, and the Cable Ace Award.

In 1998, Jean-Michel was honored with the Environmental Hero Award, presented to him by then-Vice President Gore at the White House National Oceans Conference. In 2003, he was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame and became a Trustee of the British Virgin Islands National Parks and was the first recipient of the Ocean Hero Award from Oceana.  He has also received the Poseidon/Lifetime Achievement Award from Reef Check and has been elected to the Global Green Board of Directors.  In 2006, Jean-Michel’s initiative to protect the Northwest Hawaiian Islands took him to The White House where he screened his PBS-KQED documentary,” Voyage to Kure”, for President George W. Bush. Inspired by his work, the President declared the 1,200-mile chain of islands a Marine National Monument—at the time, the largest protected marine area in the world.

In May 2016, Jean-Michel Cousteau was honored with the highest French civilian order of distinction, the Chevalier de la Légion D’Honneur, Knight of the Legion of Honor by the President of France, François Hollande.

Learn more about our Jean-Michel Cousteau luxury cruises on the Aria Amazon and Aqua Mekong.

“Clean water, the essence of life and a birthright for everyone, must become available to all people now.”

Jean-Michel Cousteau

©Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society