Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In 1943 a French naval officer, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, made perhaps
the greatest invention to advance knowledge and love of the oceans. After
the defeat of France by the Nazis in 1940, Cousteau was ordered to sit
out the war in Megreve, on the Mediterranean Sea. To amuse himself he
began skin diving with underwater goggles. An additional purpose was to
spear fish to eat since meat was scarce. His ingenious mind soon invented
the aqualung, or scuba gear. From the beginning he wanted to share his
love of the undersea world in film. His first was called Eighteen Meters
Deep . His 1953 book, and later film, Silent World , gained worldwide fame.
Over the following 40 years, he made 120 documentary films and pub-
lished more than 50 topics.
Cousteau was always a strong advocate for protecting the environment.
He and his crew sailed their research vessel, the Calypso , to the Red Sea
and the Great Barrier Reef to study coral and to the northern seas to study
whales. In 1960 the French Atomic Energy Commission proposed to dump
a large amount of nuclear waste into the Mediterranean Sea. Cousteau
rallied opposition and citizens blocked passage of the train by sitting on
the tracks. he commission gave in and canceled the dump. In 1973 he
established the Cousteau Society, now with 300,000 members.
Several environmental groups were founded or expanded in the 1960s
and 1970s. The largest, France Nature Environnement, was organized in
1968, combining many existing groups. The Friends of the Earth founded
a French affiliate in 1971. Another group established at that time was
Pollution Non. During the 1970s these were the only national-level organi-
zations concentrating on the environment. Later Greenpeace established
a French affiliate, targeting nuclear energy and weapons in particular.
The League for the Protection of Birds now has 33,000 members and has
affiliated with Bird Life International. An antinuclear group began in
1962, the Association for Protection against Radiation.
Government: France combines features of a parliamentary democracy like
most European countries with a strong president like the United States.
The president, who is elected by the people for a 5-year term, appoints a
premier and cabinet, who in turn are responsible to the National Assembly
of 577  members. There is also a Senate of 331 members. For more than
a century, political parties have split along a left-right ideological con-
tinuum. The Socialists dominate the left with the Communists being the
second biggest party. On the right the chief party is the Union for a Popular
Movement, formerly called the Rally for the Republic. Several small parties
exist, including Europe Écologie-Les Verts, a merger of the Greens with
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