Fifty years after his grandfather, Jacques-Yyves, introduced the world to wonders under the sea, Fabien Cousteau is using the novelty of discovery to shed light on deeper environmental issues.
Cousteau, 46, emerged on July 2 from exploring 63 feet below the waters off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. There, he and a rotating team of six aquanauts spent 31 consecutive days conducting scientific research and filming unprecedented observations of the oceanic frontier. The sub-surface exposition is the first chapter of Mission 31, an effort to emphasize what Cousteau considers a unique and under-appreciated connection between humans and the ocean.
"I fell in love with the ocean at a very young age, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world necessarily connects with that," Cousteau told Mashable. "How do we make it so that people not only fall in love with the ocean, but also understand its importance and why we need to be able to talk about it more often?"
To get viewers invested in the welfare of something so relatively distant and complex, the aquanauts added a personal, slice-of-life flair to many of their daily videos, focusing not only the aims of the mission, but what conducting it was like for team. The videos also portrayed the environment around them through what Cousteau called "the lens of adventure."
"That engages people in a way they're familiar with, and it's a way that really personalizes the approach," he said.
Even so, while the fluorescent glow of corals and live shots of predator-prey showdowns paint a compelling picture of life beneath the waves, it's also an entryway into a serious discussion of how to protect it.
Cousteau said the 31 days spent underwater allowed scientists to conducts three years' worth of research into how man-made climate change and pollution are affecting oceanic life. These observations will form the basis for 15 academic papers addressing such issues.
While he was hesitant to reveal too much of the research before it's published, Cousteau said it "not only further reinforces what's been said in the past, but also gives us an alarming insight, in some cases, into how much more of an impact human beings have had than we thought."
Much of the research focused on the dynamics of the coral reef, which provides food and shelter for ocean creatures. While the issue of reef deterioration isn't particularly new, Cousteau said its urgency doesn't resonate with people who can't witness its effects firsthand.
"But the reality is, if coral reefs collapse, then by and large the diversity in oceans is going to suffer and collapse," he explained, highlighting the economic implications reef destruction can have beyond the fishing industry.
A report released earlier this month backed by several conservation organizations and governmental agencies, including the United States Department of State and the United Nations Environment Programme, found that oceanic coral cover had been more than halved between 1970 and 2012, and could be gone completely in 20 years.
The report also claimed that climate change was not the only thing destroying the reefs, citing overfishing and pollution.
Not only are these oceanic food chain linchpins, but an industry devoted to exploring their beauty and biodiversity is inherently dependent on their survival. That's why the next chapters of Mission 31 will focus on teaching people to understand and protect the ocean.
"After the lights come up and everything else, there is a call to action, and it's not just being aware of the problem," Cousteau said. "There are various ways that every individual on this planet can help, and do not cost money, but actually save us money in our daily lives."
He cited using one fewer piece of single-use plastic (such as water bottles and take-out containers) per day, along with the age-old axiom of reduce, reuse, recycle.
To further the educational aspect of the research, the Mission 31 team Skyped into classrooms around the world and connected with approximately 70,000 students halfway through the project — and that's just the beginning. Cousteau will soon start working on an hour-long documentary produced from 200 hours of film shot beneath the waves with state-of-the-art 6K cameras.
Mission 31 will also publish and distribute worldwide an educational packet approved by the New York State Board of Education, and Cousteau said he intends to start an ocean exploration center in Florida.
Making a substantial impact on problems as far-reaching as oceanic pollution and climate change goes beyond the scope of just one mission, regardless of how effective it might be. But Cousteau believes any effort to address these threats starts with understanding why the ocean's health is so critical to our own.
"Whatever happens to the ocean happens to ourselves, and it doesn't matter if you're on the oceanfront or far away," Cousteau said. "It is our life support system, and it's a beautiful place and a fragile place. And the only animals who can do something about that are our species."