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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview with Jean-Michel Cousteau

Aired February 10, 2002 - 11:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Our Olympic guest has a family name you will know well, not for athletic competition, but rather as one of the great names in underwater exploration and environmental protection.

Jean-Michel Cousteau is the son of explorer Jacques Cousteau. Jean-Michel is participating in the games as an environmental ambassador. And we're about to show you a picture. You can see him way far in the back there, in the back left of the picture, helping to carry the Olympic flag. Jean-Michel Cousteau is with us now. Hi there.

JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: Well, thanks for joining us. That must have been quite a spiritual experience to be one of the selected to carry that Olympic flag. Describe what it was like.

COUSTEAU: Well besides the great honor that was bestowed upon me, I think it was the world coming out on the environment issues and the fact we're celebrating life, so many nations represented.

And that the environment was honored in these Olympics, and that the Olympic committee made it a very important issue to do as good of a job to have a great Winter Olympics here in Salt Lake City, was a remarkable decision.

And I think the fact that I was carrying the flag of the Olympics with such wonderful people and famous people in many ways, have not only represented the five continents of the world, but also arts and culture and sport as a whole, with my countrymen Jean Claude Killy, I think was a great event which the public was not prepared for and I was extremely impressed by the decision that was made to have the environment as a major issue this year at the Olympics.

WHITFIELD: And you mentioned Jean Claude Killy who represented sport and then representing culture was Steven Spielberg, and you representing the environment.

COUSTEAU: Right.

WHITFIELD: But this was also a breakthrough, wasn't it, for the environmental cause, given that it got the kind of worldwide attention during the opening ceremonies, along with the representatives of the five continents representing those rings in the Olympic rings?

COUSTEAU: It was a great coming out, I think, publicly of the environment. There's no quality of life if you don't take care of your environment. There's no good athletes coming from countries that don't have good environment. There is certainly no arts and culture that can be well preserved if you don't have a good environment.

So it starts right there and it's everybody's job to make sure that we protect and preserve, not only for ourselves but for future generations, what has been given and there's a lot of pressure that is put on the environment.

I'm an ocean guy and a lot of people wonder, you know, what am I doing up here in the mountains. Well, the ocean is on top of the mountains, and ultimately we'll go into it with everything we put in it. So we have a great job to do and people protect what they love, but it's very difficult if you don't understand what you're protecting.

So there's a lot we're doing to better understand the environment we live in, and we know that the very nature of human beings will ultimately do the right job to protect our environment.

WHITFIELD: You are keeping the legacy of your father, Jacques Cousteau, alive with your exploration and educating the world. How are you going about educating the Olympic spectators and athletes there? How do you translate your environmental message there?

COUSTEAU: Well, just like my organization, Ocean Futures Society, the Olympics has a whole department that is focusing on the environment and they've done a lot of very important things here. They've planted 100,000 trees, which will be there way beyond the Olympics, 50 years, 100 years, depending on the species.

They've planted millions of trees throughout the world. They're doing a zero garbage disposal, the recycling. They are doing a lot in terms of the emission, and if it wasn't for the public transportation that has been put at the disposal of the projected two million visitors here. There will be many more cars, a lot of traffic jam, and I haven't seen any of that yet.

There are more traffic jams with people working down the street or waiting in line, and I think there's a lot that has been accomplished, a lot of years of work have been put there and a lot will stay way beyond the presence of the athletes.

WHITFIELD: So you give Salt Lake a pretty high grade on how it is respecting and preserving the environment there, even with the threat of development that came with the Olympics?

COUSTEAU: Well, yes. A lot of the buildings of the structures that have been erected here are environmentally friendly in many ways, particularly when it comes to the energy consumption. And many of these buildings will be recycled.

WHITFIELD: OK. COUSTEAU: So a lot has been done and yes, I do give high marks and the very fact that the environment is in the minds of people is there to stay.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Jean-Michel Cousteau for joining us from Salt Lake, and enjoy the rest of the games.

COUSTEAU: We will. Thank you very much.

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