Resources for Teachers and Students
Prepare: Jean-Michel Cousteau runs an educational
foundation called the Ocean Futures Society (OFS) whose
mission is to educate people worldwide on the need to protect
the oceans. His biography
can be found on the OFS website.
Read:
Jean-Michel Cousteau wrote an
original essay for the Architects of Peace project.
In it, he explored how warfare, increasingly, results from
conflicts over natural resources.
Explore: The United
Nations maintains an extensive listing of ocean-related
links that deal with the oceans as an international environment;
these links include listings of libraries and resources
covering everything from research on global warming to databases
dealing with maritime law. The UN site can be accessed at.
Write: In his Architects of Peace essay, Cousteau
predicts that in the future "we will not fight over
oil or gold or land, but over water." He points out
that one-third of the human family is without access to
clean drinking water. Even if this is true, however, many
readers might find Cousteau's prediction to be a statement
of hyperbole. Is it possible that future wars will be fought
over water? How much, if at all, would the human population
of this planet have to grow before such concerns would be
realistic? Use internet and library resources to research
these questions, and then publish your findings in a three-to-five
page paper.
Extend: The Ocean
Futures Society mails out a monthly electronic newsletter
called the "Jean-Michel Cousteau Dispatch." It
covers conservation news and research relevant to the OFS
mission. Those interested can sign up for the newsletter
online, free of charge.
Additional Resource: In 1989, the Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation presented its Distinguished Peace Leadership
Award to Jacques Cousteau, the father of Jean-Michel Cousteau
and a world-famous undersea explorer in his own right. An
article
on the Cousteau legacy in relationship to world peace
can be viewed online.
Biography of Jean-Michel
Cousteau