friday, October 27, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 9
Cousteau misses marine paradise, tells of experiences
By Kris Hansen
Jean-Michel Cousteau took Nebraska teachers on a
South Sea adventure dining their state convention.
Jean-Michel, the sor i I oques Cousteau, spoke about
Project Ocean Search m .,lnut 800 members of the Ne
braska State Education Association Thursday during its
annual convention.
Project Ocean Search, co-sponsored by Cousteau and
Pepperdine University of California, exposes students,
teachers and the general public to the ocean world, Cou
steau said. Groups go to remote areas and live for several
months exploring the ocean as well as other lifestyles.
The 40-year-old Cousteau said Project Ocean Search
was nearly impossible to understand without being there.
He attempted to create the trip through slides of the
island and a film of underwater scenes.
Friendly villagers
The most recent Project Ocean Search was on Wuvulu
Island, just north of Australia. Cousteau showed the ap
proach, stressing the remoteness of the spot, and
described the four-mile long island.
The camp consists of three thatched dormitories and a
large meeting hall. There were no cars on the island, he
said, so everyone walked.
About 600 villagers live on the island. The villagers
were very friendly and invited the crew to dinner once or
twice a week.
Cousteau said the village children were more skillful
than American children. The children are constructing
musical instruments at age two and can easily handle a
machete at age four, he said.
"Can you see our kids with a machete at four?"
Cousteau asked. "That would be the end of dogs' tails and
mothers' toes."
Going coconuts
Coconuts were the main staple of the village. The
natives ate the coconut meat and milk and burned the
husks for fuel, he said.
The project group met every morning for a lesson, then
split up to study areas ranging from animal behavior and
medical research to deep ocean exploring.
One girl planted some papaya seeds as a project and
had 10- to 12-foot trees in 1 1 months.
"We had papaya fruit for the rest of the stay. It was
a miracle," he said.
Cousteau gave extensive descriptions of the wildlife
on ihe island. For example, a type of hermit crab grows
too large to live in seashalls, so it inhabits coconuts.
"You're walking blissfully on the beach and suddenly,
a bunch of coconuts are moving all around you,"
Cousteau recalled. "That is weird."
Underwater cave
The group discovered an underwater cage 72 feet down
during the last visit. A new species of fish was found while
exploring it, which is under study at the Smithsonian In
stitution. He said leaving was hard for both the students and the
villagers.
"When it's time to go home, I see a lot of tears on both
sides."
Exploration was not the only goal of the trip.
"Our goal is to have a better understanding of our own
generation, our own species, our own world-for, after
all, it's good to live," he said.
Cousteau took his first dive at the age of seven when
his parents pushed him overboard. The family took manv
expeditions along the French Riviera exploring the coast
line while he grew up, he said.
Marine paradise lost
"I remember the beauty of the environment. I remem
ber sensing the fragility of it."
The coastline is no longer the marine paradise Cousteau
remembers. He said he felt great frustration that his 11-yeard-old
son could not see the things he once did.
Cousteau stressed that what happens on one part of
the earth affects the whole, land and water included.
"After we have been fighting our environment for
thousands of years, we realize we have mastered this
planet," he said. "We can even control it. We can blow
it up tomorrow morning if we so elect.
"Then we have to put our guns aside and start to pro
tect it, caress, cherish what's left of it, because, whether
we like it or not, there is no escape," he said.
. 1 J
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Photo iby Bob Pearson
Jean-Jacques Cousteau, son of Jacques, spoke to teachers about Project Ocean Search during the Nebraska Edu
cation Association's annual meeting.
Businesses, students to be at Ag Careers Day
UNL agriculture students and representatives from agriculture-related
businesses will get a chance to discuss
careers in agriculture at the second annual Ag Careers Day
Nov. 1.
Sponsored by Alpha Zeta agricultural honorary frater
nity, and the Ag Advisory Board, Ag Careers Day is an
"informal exchange between interested students and
several agriculture-related businesses," according to Calvin
Coding, chancellor of Alpha Zeta.
Coding said Ag Careers Day gives students a chance to
find out what is involved with each company and what
perspective employers are looking for.
Coding said a few of the 37 businesses involved with
this year's Ag Careers Day are: John Deere & Co., DeKalb
Agricultural Research Inc., Dow Chemical Co., First
haugweem part
Tuesday Oct. 31
Santy Creek Pickers
fit
the 200 bar
AS fttmit to KZUM Free Rds
National Bank & Trust and Federal Landbank of Omaha.
All agriculture majors will be represented by at least
one of the busineses involved with Ag Careers Day.
An 8 ajn. breakfast with College of Agriculture offi
cials, department heads, company representatives and nine
selected students will begin the day's events. The various
businesses will set up booths in the East Union for the
remainder of the day.
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