Alexandra Marguerite Clémentine Cousteau (born March 21, 1976) is a filmmaker, sustainability

keynote speaker A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

and an

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

. Cousteau continues the work of her grandfather

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the A ...

and father

Philippe Cousteau Philippe Pierre Cousteau (30 December 1940 – 28 June 1979) was a French diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director and cinematographer specializing in environmental issues, with a background in oceanography. He was the second son of ...

. Cousteau advocates the importance of conservation, restoration and sustainable management of ocean and water resources for a healthy planet and productive societies.

Personal life

Cousteau is the daughter of

and Jan Cousteau and the granddaughter of French explorer and filmmaker

and Simone Cousteau. She is a member of the third generation Cousteau family who explore and explain the natural world. At the age of four months, Cousteau first went on expedition with her father, Philippe Cousteau and learned to

scuba dive Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scuba'' is an acronym for ...

with her grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, when she was seven.

Education

Cousteau earned a bachelor's degree in political science (International Relations) from Georgetown College in 1998. In May 2016, she received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Georgetown University, her alma mater.

Career

In 2000, Cousteau co-founded EarthEcho International with her brother Philippe Cousteau Jr. to further her family's legacy in science, advocacy, and education. From 2005 to 2007, Cousteau worked on ocean conservation issues in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

as an advisor for MarViva. In 2010, Cousteau led the Expedition Blue Planet: North America, a five-month, 18,000 miles of across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Cousteau and her team filmed a range of critical water issues on the Colorado River, the Gulf Coast, the Tennessee Valley, the Great Lakes, and Chesapeake Bay and also stopped in 20 communities along the route to host watershed action days. In 2014, she led an expedition to Canada in partnership with the Ottawa Riverkeeper and Aqua Hacking 2015, a conference focused on protecting the river. It's a joint initiative between Ottawa Riverkeeper, Alexandra Cousteau's Blue Legacy, and the de Gaspe Beaubien Foundation. Cousteau is also a member of the board of

Neom Neom (styled NEOM; , ) is an arcology and planned city being built by Saudi Arabia in Tabuk Province. Launched in 2017 by crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, the site is at the northern tip of the Red Sea, due east of Egypt across the Gulf of A ...

, a planned cross-border city in northwestern Saudi Arabia developed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. In 2019, she co-founded Oceans2050, where she currently serves as president. Oceans2050 is an ambitious project that aims to restore ocean abundance by the year 2050. Cousteau is a globally popular speaker on sustainability, conservation and resilience to climate change.

References

External links

El Mundo interview (Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousteau, Alexandra 1976 births Living people American environmentalists American women environmentalists American people of French descent American underwater divers

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

French environmentalists French women environmentalists French underwater divers Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni People from Santa Monica, California Activists from Washington, D.C. 21st-century American women