Alexandra Cousteau is the founder and president of Blue Legacy International, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental agency focused on leveraging new and emerging technologies to connect ordinary citizens with their local watersheds and the vast reserves of water that make life on our planet possible. In fact, because she is granddaughter of legendary marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, some might argue that a love of the sea runs in her veins – and now that she’s expecting, she hopes she’ll pass that love onto her unborn daughter.
pregnancymagazine.com recently had a chance to sit down with Cousteau and ask her what it’s like to be bringing a child into a legacy of environmental activism and love for the power of nature.
“For me, there was nothing more exciting and inspiring than exploring a tide pool or a rocky shore, catching tadpoles and frogs, snorkeling in the ocean or paddling down a river,” Cousteau told us. “These are all experiences I want to give to my own daughter because I strongly feel that nature has important lessons to share with us about how connected we are to each other and to our environment. I want to help her experience how good it feels to be stewards of the natural treasures that surround us and to understand how far reaching the impacts of our decisions can be. All of these things are also part of her legacy as a Cousteau.”
Cousteau added that being pregnant has only deepened her commitment to create a sustainable future. She hopes that by reaching out to organizations like Healthy Child, Healthy World and the Environmental Working Group, she can help to educate other mothers and moms-to-be about how important it is to live a responsible lifestyle for themselves and their children.