Since age seven, when his father, Captain Jacques Yves Cousteau, threw him over board, Jean-Michel has been exploring and diving the most remote places in the world, from the Amazon River in South America to the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, from Antarctica to the Arctic. Jean-Michel has even been around Cape Horn in South America by boat, zodiac, underwater scooter, SCUBA and swimming! When asked to pick his favorite dive site, he finds it difficult to choose only one.

Some of Jean-Michel’s favorite dive sites, in no particular order, are Fiji, Papua New Guinea, British Virgin Islands, Channel Islands National Park (California, USA), Ile Sainte-Marie (Madagascar), Anysberg (South Africa), Nosy Be (Madagascar), Seychelles, Bora Bora (French Polynesia), Dry Tortugas (Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, USA), Chuuk Lagoon, Lake Titicaca (Peru), Maui (Hawaii), Tasmania (Australia) and Lake Superior (Michigan, USA).

Take a look at the Ambassadors of the Environment section. Under each Ambassadors program location you will find information under "Sign-Up".

From 1999 to 2003, Jean-Michel Cousteau and colleagues at the Free Willy Keiko Foundation were part of a pioneering effort to rehabilitate Keiko and give him the opportunity to return to the wild after more than 20 years in captivity. Thanks to this effort and support from millions of contributors as well as dedicated philanthropists, scientists and animal husbandry experts, we were able to advance our knowledge about killer whales through Keiko and to give him humane care for the rest of his life. Keiko was returned to his native waters in Iceland and lived free although with continuing husbandry and medical support until his death in December of 2003.

Keiko’s story is available in shortened form in Hour One of Call of the Killer Whale, available under on the Sea Ghosts and Call of the Killer Whale DVD at our online store.

Honoring his heritage of ocean exploration and protection, Jean-Michel founded Ocean Futures Society in 1999 to carry on this pioneering work.

Ocean Futures Society is a non-profit marine conservation and education organization, and serves as a “Voice for the Ocean” by communicating in all media the critical bond between people and the sea and the importance of wise environmental policy. As Ocean Futures’ spokesman, Jean-Michel serves as an impassioned diplomat for the environment, reaching out to the public through a variety of media.

As consumers, we depend on the use of oil. Now is the time to break that dependency and take a look at alternatives. These difficult economic times may not make purchasing solar panels for your home the most cost effective thing to do; however, there are ways to work toward using renewable energies. Here are a few ideas:

• Experiment with your own lifestyle! Take a day, a week, or a month to share with family or friends when you decide to use limited or no energy. Bikes, candles, only battery power. See what it's like. And know that for that day, you have helped the environment by consuming less.
• Want to buy locally but don’t always have the option? Or do you regularly ship packages? Consider minimizing the carbon footprint for your online purchases and shipments.
• Some studies estimate the internet will be producing 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gases by 2020. If you have a website, look into solar-powered hosting services.
• Junk the junk mail. The average person receives 11 pieces of junk mail per week, or 560 pieces a year (and the average person wastes 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail). That amounts to 4.5 million tons of junk mail each year with most going to the landfill unopened! This totals approximately 100 million trees being cut down.
• Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh laundry that was dried outside? Dryers can produce up to 1400 pounds of CO2 in one year alone. Use a clothesline when the weather is nice. (And if you live in an area where you can wear flipflops – do! Fewer socks to dry!)
• You can also, stay informed on issues by becoming an Ocean Futures Society member for free!

As a non-profit organization, we depend on your contributions, which are tax deductible, but membership is free. Please lend your voice to ours by becoming a member and enrolling at the website below for a free membership. Your membership gives us a greater voice to speak on behalf of the ocean.

Offering a free membership allows us to partner with other organizations that have common goals without competing for members or membership fees. In addition, it allows children, without financial resources, to have access to our information. Once you are a member, you will receive monthly newsletters, e-Alerts informing you about local and international issues and calls to action where you can show your support by emailing government officials.

You can also show your support by donating to OFS. $10, $15, $100--whatever you can afford is a welcome and generous gift. Your generosity helps to make our work possible.

Follow these links for free membership and/or to make a donation:

Become a Member

Donate Now

The Ocean Futures Society logo depicts two divers working as a team and is referred to as the “manfish.” The design represents the fact that we all depend on the ocean to sustain life and together we must all support the health of the ocean.

The OFS manfish logo is designed by Jean-Charles Roux, a longtime friend and colleague of Jean-Michel and his father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Roux was instrumental in the design and look of the Cousteau Society on-camera dive team in "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" television series, which featured the "bumble bee" yellow/black dive ensemble, and later the distinctive look of the silver suits, helmets, and underwater scooters. He also designed the unique blue dive suits for Jean-Michel's OFS Expedition Team.

Please contact the Ocean Futures Society office at:
contact@oceanfutures.org

The Cousteau Society was founded in 1973 by Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel and his brother Philippe, and Fred Hyman. Following the death of Philippe in 1979, Jean-Michel and his father continued the work of The Cousteau Society and the films together until 1995, when Jean-Michel resigned to concentrate on many of the projects that became part of Ocean Futures Society in 1999. Since Jacques Cousteau’s death in 1997, there has been no official relationship between Jean-Michel and The Cousteau Society.

Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society offers exciting full and part-time job opportunities, and internships. All open positions are listed here.