Body Glove, who has formed a legendary alliance with Jean-Michel Cousteau and his Ocean Futures Society, is proud announce that Jean-Michel is being honored by SIMA, Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, as Environmentalist of the Year at its 23rd Annual Waterman’s Ball on August 11, 2012 at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. He will be awarded in recognition of his life-long commitment and global influence on the importance of our ocean planet and its stewardship.
Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the famous Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, has been educating and influencing generations of ocean advocates and would-be explorers around the world. Well ahead of his time, as a trained architect, Jean-Michel’s designs embraced what has now become common place in the architectural world of ‘Green Design’. Although significant, his land-based career would be short lived, returning to the sea in the late 1960s where he began organizing and documenting the now famous ocean travels aboard the Calypso. Jean-Michel has been revisiting some of these famous travels – documenting the changes over time that have resulted from human impacts. Through Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society his PBS Ocean Adventures documentary in 2006, Voyage to Kure, inspired former President George W. Bush to designate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as the first National Marine Monument, at the time the largest marine protected area.
“I’ve always believed real change comes from the heart. To make real change, you must appeal to the heart. That’s what I have always tried to do through my films and educational programs – inspire curiosity and a sense of responsibility through the heart,” said Cousteau.
Repeatedly nominated for Emmy awards and winner of the prestigious Peabody Award for his documentary work on the Mississippi, Jean-Michel has produced over eighty-five television specials and continues his work as executive producer, film-maker and explorer of marine and ocean issues. Traveling the globe to lecture to tens of thousands of students and adults on ocean issues, Jean-Michel and his team are dedicating all of their energies to guiding the Ocean Futures Society into one powerful “Voice for the Ocean.”
SIMA recognizing Jean-Michel Cousteau for his environmental efforts is another big step in connecting the dive and surf communities to work together in protecting the ocean that is so important to both groups. Bill and Bob Meistrell founded Body Glove because of their love of diving and surfing and their love for the ocean. Body Glove is proud to support Jean-Michel’s Ocean Futures Society in encouraging surfers and divers to become ambassadors of the ocean.
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