A quick chat with Céline Cousteau on Mission Blue Voyage

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Documentary filmmaker Céline Cousteau is the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau; her interests and heritage put her in a unique place to bridge the gap between ocean science and ocean lovers.

"My grandfather took me out diving when I was 8 or 9," she says. "When I got certified a few years later, I rediscovered my connection to the ocean." She talks about this formative experience in the companion book to the Disney film Oceans, which comes out mid-April. "That chapter comes from a personal, emotional standpoint. The only way to tell this story was to speak from an experiential point of view."

It's an approach she takes in her ocean advocacy as well. "I'm trying to pull ideas out of each person, ideas and emotion. To have them go from 'Hmm that's interesting' to 'Hmm, that's interesting and I want to be part of it.' You have to make it personal."

"You could call it intercultural relations," she laughs. "I'm fascinated with how people relate to nature and the ocean. It's in part what I studied, in part who I am." (She has a masters in international and intercultural management).

In her work as a documentary filmmaker, she interacts with scientists around the world, telling the stories of people doing great science on the ground, far from the spotlight. "Those are the heroes, whether it's the scientist who's out taking water samples or the technician working in a lab. I'm not that person -- I translate that person."

Sylvia Earle welcomes the crew

Sylvia Earle toasts

It's the Saturday before the Mission Blue Voyage, and the crew and some early arrivals are on the National Geographic Endeavor. It's a surprisingly big group of people dedicated to the business of making an expedition ship into a TED stage. Before we all dive in, Sylvia Earle gets up to welcome us.

Looking around the Endeavor lounge, at the film crew, the stage crew, early arrivals and TED Prize staff, she says: "They say, be careful what you wish for. But I'm glad I made this wish. And I can't wait to hear how you make this wish comes true."

She continues: "This is about my 30th trip to Galápagos. I first came here in 1966 on a research vessel. I've come back every decade ever since -- with more and more frequency. This is only my second time this year."

Smiling at all the people waiting to make her TED Prize wish come true, she says: "Every once in a while, you get a phone call that sounds kind of innocent and it winds up changing your life. I got a call from Chris Anderson in the fall of 2008, and it has changed my life. But it's about to change even more."

13 TEDTalks about the ocean

Dive into TED's growing archive of ocean talks -- from Tierney Thys' love affair with the big old goofy sunfish to Robert Ballard's jaw-dropping dives into the deepest deeps. Thrill to stories of adventure from James Cameron and Richard Pyle, and learn more about the science (and math) of the sea from Margaret Wertheim and Charles Anderson.

As TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle puts it: "Everyone should care about the ocean. Imagine the earth without it."

On reading "The Voyage of the Beagle"

First, have you read it? It's charming and funny. Here's a link to download the Second Edition for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/944

The first sentences of the preface have a special meaning for me and for, I think, all nonscientific people who have an urge to vaguely do something to make the world a better place by advancing thought:

I have stated in the preface to the first Edition of this work ... that it was in
consequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Roy, of having
some scientific person on board, accompanied by an offer from
him of giving up part of his own accommodations, that I
volunteered my services.... 

We're at the very start of the book at this point. Endless wonders, revelations, connections are about to burst in on us. And it's this simple invitation and offer of accommodation that unlock the doors. Many voyages around South America happened before this one; many people did scientific work on the same route Darwin travels. But this voyage happened to be the one that awoke in him a new way of thinking. It required a bed, a workbench, another body onboard. Small things.

In shorthand: Not everyone has the turn of mind to be a Darwin. But many of us have the resources to be a Captain Fitz Roy.