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Jean-Michel Cousteau to speak at Outdoors in Mammoth Environmental Festival
By Catherine Billey
Mammoth Times Staff Writer “What's an ocean guy doing in the mountains?”
That's what one heckler demanded of Jean-Michel Cousteau when he spoke at an environmental conference hosted by the late John Denver in Snowmass, Colo., several years ago. Cousteau's response? “Because my ocean is on top of your mountains.”
The eldest son of the late explorer Jacques Cousteau and current President of Ocean Futures Society will be the keynote speaker at the premier Outdoors in Mammoth Environmental Festival. The festival, themed “Summit to the Sea – Everything is Connected,” will take place August 5 – 6 and is spearheaded by local resident Jesse Langley, who was born in nearby Bishop and raised in Mammoth Lakes through high school.
“It's not your typical festival where you come and there are booths set up,” Langley explained. “It's outdoors... Let's be in the environment. Let's engage it and talk about it.”
He said he was inspired to organize the event after he returned to Mammoth from his years in Los Angeles and realized how beautiful it is. “I saw how many natural assets are here and how under-appreciated these aspects are, so it seemed like a great opportunity to help sponsor education and communicate about our environment in a fun-family, hands-on way.”
“It not only makes sense for our community,” he added wryly, “but for what we have as a visitor group [from Los Angeles]. They're drinking our water.”
Through field trips and hands-on experiences geared toward families, especially youths, the idea is to spread awareness that land and sea, humans and nature, and the present and future are all connected, thus fostering the ability for future generations to make intelligent environmental decisions.
Although it may seem counter-intuitive to talk about the ocean in the mountains, Ocean Futures Society representative Paul Zemitzsch explained: “If you look around you, everything is connected. I think this is sort of the disconnect that we deal with when we discuss the environment. People don't think about the ocean when they're not near the ocean, when it fact it's all one water system.”
One of the educational activities at the festival will be a short hike to the source of drinking water in the Mammoth Lakes Basin to understand where fresh water originates and illustrate healthy water quality. Other festival field trips will include adventuring into nature with the region's native people to understand how they dwelled sustainably for thousands of years and investigating the local hot springs to gain knowledge of natural energy sources.
Capping the event will be Cousteau's appearance at an open-air dinner conversation under the stars at Hayden Cabin. Prior to the dinner, Cousteau will lead an “Ambassadors of the Environment” field trip to the Snowcreek Meadow Preserve, after which children will be presented with certificates for participating in a handful of fun tasks.
The steering committee Langley organized for the festival includes Mary Canada of the Sierra Business Council, Danna Stroud of Mammoth Lakes Tourism and Recreation, Brian Robinette of Sierra Conservation, Leslie O'Berry of High Sierra Energy Foundation and Paul McFarland of Friends of Inyo.
“Natural resources here are our greatest economic asset,” said Canada, who is the Eastern Sierra Membership Director for SBC. “That's why people come here. So any event that has a mission to encourage people to appreciate and learn more about our natural environment is a match for SBC's mission. And furthermore, the family concept in bringing young children, exposing them to sustainable practices and just the joy of being in the out-of-doors is another reason that we are supporting this event.”
Langley is a partner in Cardinal Investments, one of the festival sponsors and prospective developer of “The Sherwin,” a proposed resort-hotel project on the northeast corner of Minaret and Old Mammoth roads. Proceeds from the Outdoors in Mammoth Environmental Festival, which he intends to be an annual event, will go to Friends of Inyo, a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to preserving the Eastern Sierra area. Different local organizations that share the same ideals and visions will benefit in future years.
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