The Sensible City is spending this week in sunny Orlando, attending FETC. THE Journal brings us this report by Chris Reidel on the keynote address, delivered by Philippe Cousteau.
In his opening keynote address at the FETC 2009 conference in Orlando, FL, Animal Planet chief ocean correspondent Philippe Cousteau proclaimed: “I have come to realize that, above all, I am a product of good teaching.” And good teaching, he continued, has the power to transform the future.
Cousteau, the grandson of legendary filmmaker and ocean conservationist Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and son of the late marine biologist Philippe Cousteau Sr., spoke of the educator’s challenge–and critical need–to inspire the new generation to “take action for a better future.”
He said, “Make no mistake: The oceans are critical to all life on this planet, and they are in peril.” He cited a range of human causes, from climate change to pollution and ocean acidification to massive population growth, as the greatest threats to the planet’s oceans.
“In the relatively few short years that we have been exploring the oceans,” he said, “much has changed.” Speaking of the vast reefs off the coast of France he frequented as a child, Cousteau confessed, “Indeed, it can break your heart
when you see that the beauty that was once there … is all gone.”
Still, according to Cousteau, all is not lost. Though we live in a time of crisis, we have the power to build a sustainable future together. And the solutions to even our most daunting challenges, he anticipates, will be championed by the next generation, by children “empowered and activated by their teachers.”