Jean Michel Cousteau: Relating Land to Water
In an exclusive interview with LAND Online, Jean Michel Cousteau discusses the importance of landscape architecture to the world's water systems, noting, "I will be a very, very strong supporter of landscape architecture, because I believe in it."

Jean Michel Cousteau addresses the 200 ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO and 43rd IFLA World Congress.

The following is a partial transcript of LAND Online’s interview with Jean Michel Cousteau during the 2006 ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO and 43rd IFLA World Congress. Click here to listen to the full audio of the interview. Highlights of Cousteau’s presentation before the 2006 ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO and 43rd IFLA World Congress are also available online by clicking here.

I read your essay, “Ocean Meets Mountain,” in which you discuss the systematic connections between water and land. In it you say, “If the mountains and forests are the flesh and bones of this planet, water is the circulatory system.” How do you see our profession, the landscape architecture profession—which attempts to care for the flesh—affecting that circulatory system?

All you can do is impact it in a positive way—and maximize nature’s ability to restore itself, sustain itself, and water itself, so to speak. It’s the blood of the planet, and if you look at it, you know what to do and what not to do. Water goes down the drain, so how do we maximize its ability to sustain nature? And I think landscape architects are the closest one to that issue. That’s what I was trying to do this morning was to say, “Hey, you are the guys who are in charge of making it work well, or having it be a disaster.” Everybody else—the users, the decision makers in government, the people in industry—they’re not the ones who are going to resolve this. Landscape architects, architects, engineers, who deal with the land, gardens, infrastructures, and buildings—they are the ones who can come up with the answers.

This is critical, and I had no perception of the importance of this convention. I would come to this convention on my own. They should invite me again—I don’t have to speak—but I’d love to come and explore and see what’s going on. And, you know, I will be a very, very strong supporter of [landscape architecture], because I believe in it.

I would come to this convention on my own. They should invite me again-I don't have to speak-but I'd love to come and explore and see what's going on. And, you know, I will be a very, very strong supporter of [landscape architecture], because I believe in it.

Another one of your primary concerns—and in fact the subject of your book, Water Culture—Is worldwide water quality. What are your thoughts on the effects of population growth and world urbanization on water quality and managing water as a resource?

Well, I think water quality is going to improve. There is plenty of water and there is enough water for every human being on the planet—it’s a matter of how we use it. When you think that there are people dying from polluted water, or no water, in certain parts of the planet and we, in the industrial countries, flush potable water in our toilet—that is a criminal act and it has to stop. We can recycle that water, or we can use existing water that doesn’t have to be potable, and we can do the same thing with a lot of the water we use. Realize that today, we are spending more money on a gallon of water than we do on gasoline. I was in my hotel room today looking at a bottle of water that was offered to me for five dollars—I mean it is just absurd, we are nuts. So, it’s a matter of management—it’s a management issue—how do we handle water, what value do we really put on water, and I don’t mean money, I mean life.

In “Ocean Meets Mountain,” you discuss the systematic connections between water and land. In it you note that the origin of the word “rivalry” is “a battle over rivers,” which I was not aware of. Looking into the future, do you see a time when water becomes so scarce that wars will literally be fought over it?

It’s not in the future—it’s already happening. The war in the Middle East, which we identify with access to oil…we completely forget what is really happening there. You have, for example, the largest population of cultural people who don’t have a country, and those are the Kurds. There are over 20 million Kurds who do not have a country, sitting in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Why are we not giving them a country? Because they are on top of the mountains controlling the fresh water in those countries. So, we already have major issues there, which have to do with water.

There are all kinds of issues. I just talked to someone recently in Arkansas. Arkansas has a huge problem with water use. In California, we have huge problems with water, and it becomes a political weapon, where water is being sold to people who don’t need the water because they are on the political side of the people who control that water, and then they can make money by selling it to people who need the water. I mean it is just absurd that we have come to that. So, water wars are in place right now.

Several months ago you were in the news after President Bush established the Northwestern Hawaiian Island National Monument, saying he was inspired by your documentary series “Ocean Adventures.” Can you talk about how this meeting with the president came about, and why you think you and your work were able to reach him on this issue and create change, when so many others have found his administration to be resistant when it comes to environmental regulation?

I don’t know if it’s resistance. It’s certainly ignorance. I have learned the hard way in the past that confrontation doesn’t lead anywhere. Confrontation doesn’t work, but if you have a dialogue, you don’t need to agree in the end, but sometimes it works, and as long as that is the approach that you take you may get somewhere. When the president and his administration were put in place, I said, and people remind me of this, “I want this president to be an ocean hero.” And you know what? I think he’s become one.

We communicated with a sufficient amount of people on both sides of the aisles. Politics is not an issue when it comes to survival, when it comes to the value of water—we all understand that. So it was just an issue of convincing these people, and for these people to carry the message all the way to the top. And when it got to the top, it triggered an interest, and we were very honored and surprised—happily surprised, obviously—to be invited to do the screening of our film [at the White House].

Because it’s a U.S. territory in this case, and it’s extremely valuable—there is no conflict, there is no issue, there is no oil there—so why not? And I think good sense ultimately prevailed. Of course the president surprised all of us. But that’s what we wanted—we wanted to be surprised.

Now I want to remind us that politics again has nothing to do with it. If you look at who created the National Park System, who created the Environmental Protection Agency, they were Republicans. So it has nothing to do with if you’re left, or right, or whatever. It has to do with the priorities of that person at that time.

You seem to be very optimistic about the future and about creating the types of change that can reverse the current trends of environmental degradation. There are people out there, particularly when it comes to global warming, who are saying it’s too late—that turning back the clock now is not going to work, and we have to seek other technological solutions to this. Where does your optimism come from, and where do you see signs of hope?

As far as the people who think it’s too late, they should bury their head in the sand and forget about it—they are useless and they are not contributing anything to the planet. If they have the guts and the courage to look in the eyes of a five year old or a three year old and say, “It’s over for you guys, I’m not going to do anything, it’s done,” then they really are parasites on this planet. Look, we have problems, but there are solutions, and the solutions will come from every one of us. We can completely change and reverse the trends. It can be done at no expense—it’s just a matter of changing our bad habits. We are spoiled, and by being spoiled we’re wasteful. There’s no reason why in North America you have three pounds of garbage per person, and in Europe, during the same period of time you have one pound of garbage per person, and some believe this means North Americans have three times the standard of living than Western Europeans. There’s something wrong in that perception. Solving this will take education—which is critical—finances, and a slight change in our bad habits. With this we can rectify and improve everything—not only our standard of living but also the way we look at nature. And the environment in which we live will be infinitely nicer.

One of the points you made in today’s presentation was in a scene where you show fishing nets piled up on the beach. What’s interesting, and horrific really, is that those abandoned fishing nets are catching and killing the fish that the fishermen need to survive. So industry needs to be educated on these things as well.

That’s right. They don’t quite understand the consequences of their bad habits down the line. Granted, we know some of the fishing nets are going to be lost and washed away. It’s going to happen. But, it can be minimized to a great extent, and this will help them. Look, I’m on the side of the fishermen. I eat fish, and I am not a hypocrite. But, they’re going out of business, and anything so they don’t will make me happy.

But maybe they should start thinking about aquaculture. Because looking at the history of man on this planet, we were hunters and gatherers until we ran out of everything, then we settled down and became farmers. And if you look at what we farm, we farm herbivores or grains. When it comes to the ocean, we’re running out of fish, and so we need to become farmers, and you might as well farm where the demand is. If you’re in the ocean or on lakes, you’re at the mercy of an accident. Putting these farms where the demand is will cut down on transportation, and you will offer your clientele fresh fish. So there is a whole new avenue for decision makers, new people, young people, who want to get into this field, which is virtually untouched. So, soon in Kansas City, hey, you’ll have fresh fish grown right outside the city.