Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: Jaques Cousteau

  • Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge-A Blow to Future Generations

    “People protect what they love.” (Jacques-Yves Cousteau) “Every person has the right to inherit an uncontaminated planet on which all forms of life may flourish.” Bill of Rights for Future Generations.

    More than 13 years ago, Captain Jacques Cousteau launched the Bill of Rights for Future Generations. His goal was to increase awareness for the deterioration of the environment on a global scale and the need to protect and preserve our planet for the generations to come.

    This March 17, the U.S. Congress approved the policy to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. This act opens the refuge to oil exploration that could cause irreparable damage to the vast and pristine wilderness tundra.

    Here you have two different points of view with the most contradictory results.

    Cousteau successfully promoted in 1990 a worldwide petition to save Antarctica from mineral and oil drilling exploitation. His documentary Lilliput in Antarctica chronicled the voyage of Captain Cousteau and six children, each representing one of Earth’s continents, taking symbolically possession of the frozen continent on behalf of the future generations.

    Significant progress toward securing the protection of Antarctica was made at the XI Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting in 1991. The signatories of the Treaty, the 26 nations that claimed to have rights for mining and exploration in the sixth continent, agreed the prohibition of mining for at least 50 years. The new Protocol of Environmental Protection includes the designation of Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science.

    President Bush supported and promoted the exploration of ANWR calling the drillings “environmentally sensitive” and “good for business”. Mr. Bush sees these actions as a solution that will help the U.S. not to depend on foreign countries for oil. Not to spoil the party, but let’s do some simple mathematics.

    The government has estimated that between 6 billion to 16 billion barrels of oil lie beneath the frozen tundra. Our gas-guzzling nation consumes 7 billion barrels a year, therefore, if the estimates of the government are accurate, the “solution” would only be good for not even 3 years. The enormous cost of spoiling the wilderness and endangering wildlife will be irreparable.

    These events bring to mind memories of a trip I made in 1993 to Punta Arenas, Chile, as the Representative of the Cousteau Society for Latin America. This is the southern most city of the American continent, sprawling in front of the chilly waters of the Strait of Magellan. My visit was part of a continental tour to collect signatures for the Bill of Rights for Future Generations campaign. Latin America contributed alone with nearly 5 million signatures and Punta Arenas was one of my last stops.

    By that year the residents of Punta Arenas had been exposed to high levels of UV radiation due to the hole in the ozone layer, which typically hovers over Antarctica and stretches across to the Chilean city. It is well known that too much UV radiation can cause skin cancer as well as destroy the phytoplankton, the beginning of the food chain. Human-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in aerosol sprays and refrigerants cause most ozone depletion. This is a high price paid by the brave inhabitants of Punta Arenas for a problem caused by the industrialized world.

    A ceremony for the delivery of signatures for Bill of Rights for Future Generations was organized in the city’s stadium by local authorities, NGO’s and schools. After the screening of several videos produced locally showing the menace faced by humans, fauna and flora due to the extreme UV radiation, a young girl on crutches and suffering with cancer of the spine came to the podium and read a little poem.

    Her voice was clear and firm and – as the representative of Jacques Cousteau, she directed to me the questions that troubled her mind and that were revealed in her poem:

    What right do you have, human adult To tell me: there used to be, but there is no more There used to be birds, lakes, rivers, and flowers That I’m neither going to know nor my brothers What right do you have in your greedy struggle for money and power Not to offer me life, …. But death!

    I was incapable to answer her that day – she died 6 months later, and I’m unable to answer the same question that our children of the 21st century are asking us now.

    *Ruben Arvizu is the Director for Latin America of NAPF and former Representative for Latin America of the Cousteau Society.

    Captain Jacques Cousteau received in 1989 the NAPF’s Distinguished Peace Leadership Award.

  • Captain Cousteau’s Legacy: Rising to Our Full Stature as Human Beings

    Jacques Cousteau was larger than life. He was a man who lived fully. He was a resistance fighter during the Second World War, the inventor of the Aqua-Lung, a world famous explorer of the oceans, filmmaker, and writer. Captain Cousteau was at home in the water, and he brought the wonder and mystery of the oceans and its creatures into the lives of people everywhere. He took to calling our Earth the “water planet,” acknowledging the extraordinary treasure that makes life possible and makes our planet unique in the known universe.

    Captain Cousteau’s vision encompassed the planet and the future. He once wrote, “There are no boundaries in the real Planet Earth. No United States, no Soviet Union, no China, no Taiwan…. Rivers flow unimpeded across the swaths of continents. The persistent tides — the pulse of the sea — do not discriminate; they push against all the varied shores on Earth.” For Captain Cousteau there was only one planet Earth, and only one humanity. He spent a good part of his life fighting to preserve our planet for future generations.

    In 1989 the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation presented its Distinguished Peace Leadership Award to Captain Cousteau. On the day that he was scheduled to be in Santa Barbara to receive the award, the Concord which he boarded in Paris was delayed on the runway for hours due to an equipment problem. When Captain Cousteau realized that he would not be able to make his connection in New York to be in Santa Barbara in time for the event, he deboarded. That evening more than 700 members and guests of the Foundation heard Captain Cousteau speak to them from Paris over a speaker telephone at the Red Lion. Many were disappointed by his absence.

    When I told Captain Cousteau how much he was missed at the banquet in his honor, he said that he would come to Santa Barbara the following weekend to be with us and receive the Foundation’s award. I remember being surprised when I met Captain Cousteau at the airport by the straightness of his bearing (for a man nearly 80 years old), by his abundant energy (after a long flight), and by the warmth of his manner.

    We arranged for Captain Cousteau to speak in the sunken gardens of the Courthouse. A large crowd came out to greet him on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

    In his remarks, Captain Cousteau spoke of the dangers of nuclear accidents and expressed anger at the manner in which these accidents were treated by technocrats. “A common denominator,” he said, “in every single nuclear accident — a nuclear plant or on a nuclear submarine — is that before the specialists even know what has happened, they rush to the media saying, ‘There’s no danger to the public.’ They do this before they themselves know what has happened because they are terrified that the public might react violently, either by panic or by revolt.”

    He concluded his speech saying that “The problem is to get rid of the arrogance of technocrats. We want to know the truth when an accident occurs. And we want to fight. We want the right of all people to decide on what risks they will or will not take, to protect the quality of life for future generations.”

    He received a tremendous outburst of applause, to which he responded, “The time has come when speaking is not enough, applauding is not enough. We have to act. I urge you, every time you have an opportunity, make your opinions known by physical presence. Do it!”

    In 1995 I wrote to Captain Cousteau to thank him for his outspoken opposition to French testing in the Pacific. He wrote back setting forth eight points in the antinuclear position taken by the Cousteau Society. These included opposition to “any development of atomic weapons, including any kind of test, either in the air, underground or in specially equipped laboratories.” Another point in Captain Cousteau’s letter called for outlawing “any nuclear activity from any country…as we have outlawed chemical or bacteriological warfare.” He said that nuclear bombs were “criminal,” and that we must all struggle to outlaw them.

    Captain Cousteau spoke out for many causes — the Earth, the environment, his beloved oceans, future generations. His Bill of Rights for Future Generations was signed by millions of people throughout the world. The first Article of this document stated, “Future generations have a right to an uncontaminated and undamaged Earth and to its enjoyment as the ground of human history, of culture, and of the social bonds that make each generation and individual a member of one human family.”

    Men such as Jacques Cousteau are rare. They are treasures, teaching what is real and important. We were privileged to have Jacques Cousteau among us — as we are privileged to have other great peace leaders among us, including many others who have received the Foundation’s Distinguished Peace Leadership Award. If we fail to listen to these leaders of vision, we will bear a heavy burden of responsibility for the devastating destructiveness that our technologies make possible; and the burden of future generations will be even greater.

    The life of Captain Cousteau reminds us that we may all rise to our full stature as human beings, and stand straight and proud of our humanity and of the legacy we leave to the next generation. But we cannot reach this stature by complacency, indifference, or blind obedience to authority or dogma. We must think for ourselves, and believe, as Captain Cousteau did, that a better future is not only necessary but possible — if we are willing to work for it.

    *David Krieger is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.