>>Fabien Cousteau: Our grandfather once said "When one man, for whatever reason, has the
opportunity to live an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it for himself." And
I think that's the premise of Google Zeitgeist and platforms such as that is being able to
share stories and successes and failures so that each and every one of us can learn and
grow from it. Our grandfather, Jacques Cousteau, was not
only a pioneer in ocean exploration; but he was also an avid sharer of stories. Through
the advent of building technology so that he can go farther, such as the regulator,
the submersibles, the underwater camera housings and the lights, he could go farther and deeper
and come back with audio visuals to share with those who are earthbound.
With that, he also didn't have -- he didn't do it by himself. He had a social network
of supporters, starting with our grandmother, Simone Cousteau, and his best friends right
from the beginning, Capitain Taillez, and Frederiques Dumas, who were affectionately
called the Mousequemers, or the sea musketeers, to Albert Falco, the captain of Calypso, and
the crew, to icons of the production world such as David Wolper and Ted Turner, the folks
at National Geographic, and many, many more. He was able to share his stories for over
five decades with hundreds of millions of people, and impassioned them to get connected
with that place we have called the oceans. It is with that in mind that the next generations
were also infused with this passion to explore this vastly unknown place we call inner space.
Can you imagine? This represents over 99% of our world's total living space, containing
an estimated 97% of this world's biodiversity, all the biodiversity we know in the universe.
And even with his efforts and those pioneers after him, we've explored less than 5% of
our world's oceans. >>Celine Cousteau: Fabien was just mentioning
the generations. And in case it's not obvious (Turning).
Thank you. [ Applause ]
>>Celine Cousteau: Yes, I did not eat the entire breakfast buffet; I am pregnant. And
I am now barefoot. But since it's Zeitgeist and we are changing the way we think, I am
not taking offense to this. I am actually more comfortable than you are. And I am creating
life. [ Laughter ]
>>Celine Cousteau: Thank you. All of you are using your brains. I am making one. Now, try
to top that. If there's anything we learned from our grandfather,
it is that we have an incredible capacity to inspire and to change this world. Now,
we're not just here with a last name. We inherited the legacy, but what is important in that
is, what are we doing with that. We have been handed an incredible potential to do something,
and to achieve the greatest potential, we have to follow through.
And this is something that I've heard from yesterday morning: It is not enough to think.
We have to act. And we have to act on behalf of the collective, and not on behalf of the
individual. So what is it that you are going to do with
this one incredible life that you are given? We all come from different backgrounds, but
we all have a collective humanity. And we are here today to give you a little piece
of our story and how we do that. >>Fabien Cousteau: When I was at the ripe
old age of four, I took my first finn steps into the underwater world and was infused
with an awe and a mesmerized feeling of passion that would last a lifetime about this fireworks
display of life, and most importantly, how we as a species are tied in to that role.
How do we relate these stories in today's world?
Back a couple of decades, traditional media was the way to go, whether it was television
or whether it was big screen. But as time goes on, these medias are being diversified,
in some cases, marginalized. So how do we reach the next generations to
keep that passion going with this life support system, this planet we call Earth, which should
actually be called planet ocean? By reaching out through alternative medias,
new medias, the next generation medias, such as Facebook and Google+ and Google Chrome
and YouTube and even reaching out into the future to send out video vignettes through
cell phone subscriptions, we're able to reach out to this next generation.
It's the most important thing for us to be able to reach out to those fringe societies,
those folks who don't necessarily get access to many of the media that we in the western
world have access to. But being able to reach out to them is the
most fundamental bit of what we do. By being able to reach out to them, we're
able to stand on their successes. We are beholden to their successes.
With regard to the ocean world, it's about education. It's about empowering those local
communities into restoring our aquatic planet. I'm going to take my pants down here in front
of you. Not literally. But I wanted to show something that we just came up with, which
is a rough cut of two and a half minutes of a very small example of what we can do as
an individual, as a nonprofit, as a community. Can you roll the video, please.
[ Video plays. ] >>Fabien Cousteau: The small place called
El Salvador, which to this day is still burdened with its reputation back from the 1980s, but
it is a beautiful place, 32 beaches, lots of rain forests, and a community that really
cares about its country. It's not known necessarily for being environmentally
conscious. And the folks that are usually -- that are
being blamed are the ones at the front lines, the ones that need to make the living. In
this particular case, it's the tortugueros who collect eggs for consumption. Turtle eggs
are a valuable commodity to them. But instead of vilifying those communities on the fringe,
we've chosen to engage them and use their talents to be actually able to restore those
local places and still make a living. These tortugueros used to be on the front
lines over 12 years of a zero recruitment rate of five species of sea turtles on their
beaches, because they were so good at collecting the eggs. By engaging them in positive action,
not only do they feel better and make a living, but just last year, those tortugueros were
able to release over 1.6 million hatchlings in one year. That's how quickly we can turn
things around. And it's not just about the sea turtles. It's about mangroves in Haiti,
it's about the oyster reefs of the gulf that were devastated. It's about bringing communities
together so that we understand that education and the empowerment of those communities into
taking better care of our planet is paramount to our own survival.
By doing so, we can look to a better future. By doing so, we're able to look to them as
positive examples to encourage more change around the world.
Can we go back to the slides. Thank you.
If there's one thing we take away from nature, it is the fundamental laws, whether it's business,
whether it's media, whether it's the very future viability of our species, the three
fundamental laws: Adapt, diversify, and evolve. >>Celine Cousteau: Can we put the next video
on, please. [ Video. ]
>>Celine Cousteau: A lot of that was pre-baby. Can't go diving now.
As part of that adaptation that Fabien was talking about, one of the things that I noticed
is that there was a gap. Grass roots organizations and individuals who are out there doing incredible
work both with our environment and with sociocultural issues were not able to communicate their
message with the world because their resources had to be put directly to their own work.
So in adaptation, from the times of when my grandfather in the 1950s started making underwater
films, I decided to take that skill and take those experiences and adapt it to what media
is about now, with all of the absolutely incredible resources we have, to share those stories
through Twitter, through Facebook, through social media, online, and in traditional media.
I created a small nonprofit organization to do short documentaries about the works of
other small nonprofit organizations who didn't have the means to tell their stories. It is
about amplifying a voice, but to transfer it to all of you, because I don't expect all
of you to go into the Amazon and swim with anaconda, or sharks in Australia, or wherever
else we would end up. It is really about taking your skills and your experience and lending
those skills and those experiences to others who may need them. So you can always advance
your profits, you can always advance your career and always advance the work that you
are doing and take some of that and adapt it and apply it to others who don't have those
means, who don't have those skills, whether it's architects without borders, whether it's
engineers without borders, medicine without borders, all of that is really valuable to
be able to give back to a general sense of humanity.
The videos you've been watching behind are several examples of what I have done in Papua
new Guinea, the Amazon, Uganda, and Green Chimneys up in upstate New York, all heroes
that every day, no matter what, are out there trying to solve a problem. Because the wonderful
part about humanity is that wherever there is a problem, there are incredible people
finding solutions. Unfortunately, sometimes some of those problems are created by humans
themselves. The footage you see behind us is the first
time I'm actually showing it to a public audience. I was filming a 12-part documentary series
in Chile recently, and we came across a whale entangled in a net. Now, we were luckily a
boat full of divers with all of our camera gear, so it doesn't get better than that for
us. But for the whale, she had been dragging this 250-kilo net behind her for weeks. She
was a juvenile hump back. Her pod left her because she was unable to keep up, unable
to feed because she could not dive, and unable to advance because of the weight she was pulling
behind. The power of images is absolutely incredible.
It can inspire people to do something. It can inspire people to act and make change.
But the challenge we have as visual storytellers is, we can bring all of these stories to you.
But what is to guarantee that there is going to be follow-through?
How are we going to know that the image we showed you is actually going to do something
to get you to be motivated to take action. And this is where another gap exists.
I'm a documentary filmmaker. I will go and dive in Antarctica if I have to, which I did.
I will go to any part of the world to bring back stories. But then it is up to my audience
to walk away from seeing those stories and do something with it.
So this is where we ask all of you to take your part in doing something.
Beautiful, beautiful images can inspire you to feel like you are part of the bigger world.
Beautiful images can inspire you to want to travel to a place like Patagonia.
But are beautiful images enough to get you to do something?
If what you have is technology, if what you have is a cell phone company, if what you
are creating are games, use those games, as was said yesterday, to inspire children, to
feel that they are active participants in this life and that by being part of that game,
they can be empowered to take that knowledge, to take that experience out into the real
world. So what is hoped for in all of this for me,
as a storyteller and as a filmmaker, is that all of these images do just that. The power
of media lies in sharing information. But as we just saw on the panel, we are inundated
with so much information, we don't even know what to do with it. So we need to adapt, diversify,
and evolve. And we need to be critical in what we do with what we learn.
>>Fabien Cousteau: So we have a gift here in this room. We've been given a Toolkit.
What we do with that Toolkit is of utmost importance.
It sounds a little obvious, but we need to squeeze every little bit of energy and juice
and possibility out of that Toolkit. With this, we can broadcast the general message
of stewardship that we can no longer live on this planet, but we must strive to live
with this planet. Together, we can and we will change the course that we've set for
ourselves. But we cannot be an audience; we have to be the voice that guides the world
to a better place. As Richard and Cory and Sekou and others have
mentioned, complaining is just an excuse not to do anything.
So what will you do? >>Celine Cousteau: As we move forth today
and through everything, we want to take, obviously, knowledge with us. But what was said yesterday
morning, we need to think further ahead, we need to think further into the future, with
everything that we're doing, whether it is that you're studying trends in your own industry,
whether it is you're working in the humanitarian field, you're working in filmmaking, we need
to think further ahead. But we need to think as a collective humankind.
Whatever is best for our environment is going to end up being best for us. If we have an
unhealthy river, we have a polluted ocean, we have sick people.
So you don't have to be an environmentalist by career; it's actually a way of thinking.
Because if we take better care of our planet, we end up taking care of ourselves.
Now, there is an incredible indigenous saying that states that we do not inherit this planet
from our parents; we borrow it from our children. And if you can think of that and think of
your grandchildren as well, then we are on the right path. Collectively, all of us in
here have the capacity to create an incredible Domino effect of change, regardless of where
you are, who you are, and what you do. It is the importance of the collective.
So I don't believe in the Mayan calendar. The world will not end in April next year.
This little one is coming in February. And he's going to change the world. And I hope
all of you do, too. Thank you.
[ Applause ]