Earth Day, April 22nd, 2018, serves as a good reminder for us all to respect, honour and preserve Mother Nature in our daily lives. This year, we were lucky enough to snag an interview with Céline Cousteau—a world-renowned social and environmental activist who also happens to be the granddaughter of explorer Jacques Cousteau! Céline makes the environment a part of her everyday existence; read on to discover more about her important earth work (and, of course, to get some first-hand dirt on her famous grandad!). —Noa Nichol
Hi Céline! Tell us a bit about yourself and your work.
Well, I’m a social and environmental activist and documentary maker; my main interests lie in environmental and indigenous causes. Also, as a TreadRight Foundation ambassador, I help raise awareness about sustainability in travel, and I recently partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society to raise awareness of big cats conservation (think: Cecil the Lion). I’m currently getting ready to release my documentary that was filmed in Brazil’s Amazon region; it explores the indigenous people of the Vale do Javari region with an aim to aid in the continued protection of their land.
We have to ask: what does being the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau mean?!
My grandfather was known by a lot of people and many I meet say, "I grew up with your grandfather." In a way, this simple phrase creates a connection between us. My entire family was involved in my grandfather’s work; my father was by his side on most projects, my grandmother was a cornerstone of life aboard Calypso, and my mother a photographer. Through their work and the stories that they brought back, I saw just how interconnected we really are to so many places around the world.
Tell us more about the TreadRight Foundation.
Through the decade since its founding TreadRight has worked with more than 30 incredible sustainability project partners, each with their own inspiring stories. My role as the ambassador is to take my skills as a documentary film-maker and storyteller to help amplify the voices of those amazing individuals who are working to protect ecosystems, wildlife and people.
What is the main message you’d like to relate to the public around the issue of big cats conservation?
Through my years spent working across every environment imaginable, whether I’m telling the stories of people or wildlife, there remains one constant in any healthy ecosystem, no matter the habitat, from the oceans to deserts to rainforests: top predators are integral to robust and flourishing ecosystems. Throughout many ecosystems across our beautiful planet, big cats are a critical fulcrum point from which the entire food chain hangs. Protecting big cats is therefore crucial to every piece of the brilliant, complex workings of each unique habitat.
That said, the story of Cecil the Lion touched people all around the world. What are your thoughts around that?
An incident like is a very public example of the disparity between those who understand and respect nature, to those who disregard it to validate their ego. As an example of what I’m talking about, in recent years, I’ve spent a great deal of time in Vale do Javari in the Brazilian Amazon for my film, "Tribes on the Edge." In the depths of the Amazon Rainforest there is tremendous reverence for the jaguar. In a place where the people live in rhythm with nature and understand their place in the natural world, I’ve witnessed an innate respect and appreciation for these mesmerizing, powerful felines. But for those of us who have been disconnected from the natural world in much of our day-to-day lives, it can be a challenge to bridge that gap. Despite this, we need to tap into the central idea of an ecosystem in balance. We need to remember the importance of top predators. Every now and again we experience a collective remembrance of this inherent unity between people and the natural world. The killing of Cecil the Lion is a prime example of the kind of fleeting moment where there has been a collective push to protect top predators like big cats, but so often we watch as the passion to protect top predators fades with time. We can’t let this happen.
What was filming in Brazil’s Amazon region like, and what did you learn through the process?
The tribes of the Vale do Javari indigenous territory in the Brazilian Amazon asked me to tell their story to the world in the hopes global media attention will help them protect their land and their lives. Being in the Amazon is tough—the jungle is a complex and difficult environment to function and work in. Everything takes twice as long and trying to work faster doesn’t work. The best course of action is to adapt rather than resist. But more than this, the subject I am dealing with is heartbreaking. These are Indigenous Peoples afraid of going extinct who are confronting a system that answers with insufficient support and apparent disregard for their existence.
What does Earth Day, annually, mean to or symbolize for you?
One day a year, we symbolically honour this planet and the ecosystem we all depend on. Having personally had the good fortune to explore the many regions of the planet, both above and below the sea, I can say in all sincerity that we could honour a different element of what makes this planet amazing every day for years without ever running out of things worth celebrating. There’s just no shortage of "amazing" out there!
We personally think Earth Day should be a daily celebration. What top easy-to-implement-right-now tips can you give our readers regarding how they can start thinking more sustainable in their everyday lives?
Remember every little bit matters. I think it’s easy to get caught up in big ideas and sweeping changes. But it’s important to be conscious of wastefulness in everything you do. We are such a disposable society, but sticking to the classic reduce, reuse, and recycle is a great rule of thumb. We need to remember that if our basic needs are met, then at every moment we have a choice and if we’re conscious about the impact of that choice on the world and people around us, we should be able to make better decisions every day. But I recommend taking it one step at a time—eliminating single-use plastics, consuming less (of everything) and choosing sustainable products, supporting the people and organizations working on environmental and humanitarian causes, electing leaders that can influence and create laws that benefit the environment, and pushing corporations to implement better and genuine CSR initiatives.
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