S. Speaker program ExchangeAlumni Philippe Cousteau, Jr., his family, and our planet. It led Philippe’s grandfather, Jacques Cousteau, to become a pioneer whose legacy still inspires Philippe – a TV host, producer, author, and social entrepreneur – every day.

Well, you know, for me growing up was, was — it a challenge in some ways I, you know, not knowing my father and, and having this big legacy, you know, that that was ever present was a little intimidating. You know, my grandfather Jacques Cousteau, 70, about 77 years ago, co-invented scuba diving and, you know, really opened up the world to the wonders in the ocean. He was someone that was not only a, an inventor, but also a filmmaker and storyteller and author. And, you know, for, for a long time was, was considered one of the most famous people in the world. And, and was this larger than life individual who had an enormous impact on the world and, you know, opening up the ocean. I think it’s hard for people to imagine that prior to his work inventing, you know, initially co-inventing scuba diving, um, the world knew very little about the ocean.

But what existed beneath the surface was always the mystery

Most of what we knew was that the pollution that we dumped in and the, and the seafood that we pulled out, you know, the ocean of course, has been a crossroads of civilization for millennia. And it wasn’t until, you know, my grandfather and, and an engineer payday loans in NY named Emile Gagnan, they co-invented a valve, a regulator, which we still use today. It’s the, that we, that we use to scuba dive and then created underwater cameras and, and began to film documentaries. It wasn’t until that time that that people really began to, to know what coral reefs look like, schooling, sharks, walrus, whales.Continue reading→