The auditorium is packed with both full classes and lone students, a hushed anticipation settled over everyone — is this real, is this happening? The theater curtain brushes aside, and the spotlight brightens — yes! There he is! The crowd goes wild! It’s FAMOUS OCEANOGRAPHER, PHILIPPE COUSTEAU!

I know, at first, I wasn’t this excited either when I heard he was coming to visit. I also didn’t know who he was. Consider, though, that his grandfather, Jacques Cousteau helped invent the Aqualung, pioneered marine discovery and conservation, inspired the comedy movie “The Life Aquatic” (which, says esteemed editor Max David, “is like the best movie ever,”), and has (here’s the true mark of fame) a Wikipedia page for his boat.

Philippe himself refuses to be outdone: he works for Discovery, was good friends with Steve Irwin, and is at the head of (literally) a dozen oceanic education and environmental organizations. If that’s not enough, he has a blog and a Twitter page (twitter​.com/​p​c​o​usteau, ladies). He insists he has never been a model, but the fact that somebody had to ask says a lot already. We tell it like we see it, Philippe.

He talked to Garfield about habitat destruction, his grandfather, his work with teens in Washington DC, and other things as well: seeing big, glowing Humbolt squids tear each other apart in the open ocean at midnight, and how more people die each year in goldfish-related accidents than shark-related accidents.

He said that even though he’s been to some crazy places, “you don’t have to go to the Arctic, or the Red Sea, to explore new things. We have a scientist at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum that I worked with, and he discovered three new species of insects in his backyard.”

For a natural-minded adult, Cousteau takes a surprising view on technology: “[Technology] can help augment you going outside, because nowadays, if you got a question about something you see in your backyard. You can go on the internet at home, look it up, and find out what’s going on. … But I think it’s important for us also to get outside.”

And what advice does the mighty Cousteau offer for kids looking to become oceanographers in general? “You don’t have to grow up and just be a scientist,” he said (citing the fact that grand-dad Jacques wanted to be a pilot, and Phillipe is a history major).

But he also recommends: “It’s a competitive world out there. Get engaged in programs after school, during the summer. And then, you know, go to university. Gotta go to University.”
Take it from the master, kids.