Disaster must be catalyst for change, says Jean-Michel Cousteau

Jean Michel Cousteau @ Times Online - Jean-Michel Cousteau, one of the world's leading ocean explorers, has spoken of his "frustration at the human species" over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster and called for it to become a catalyst for political, industrial and environmental change.

Describing the slick as "the worst oil accident anywhere on the planet", the 72-year-old son of Jacques Cousteau, the pioneering underwater ecologist, said that the consequences for Man and nature would be monumental. "The sad side of the human species is that we talk a lot and take very little action until we have a catastrophe on our hands," he told The Times.

"I don't want to call this doomsday. I want to believe we can sit down with decision-makers and industry and government and convince them that there's a better way to manage our life support system. We can do the good thing or we can keep destroying it." Read more.