The mere point out of the identify Cousteau elicits pictures of heart-pounding escapades, seminal ocean analysis and indefatigable conservation efforts. Three generations of Cousteaus have devoted their lives to such endeavors, most notably starting with the maestro Jacques Cousteau and his pioneering foray into scuba diving and underwater exploration.
It’s becoming that Philippe Cousteau Jr., Jacques’ grandson, opted to observe within the trailblazing wake of his father and grandfather. Throughout a time when the well being of Earth’s waters teeters on the sting of a knife, Philippe, 43, stays devoted to fixing international social and environmental issues. He’s spent many years spearheading ocean activism efforts—from lecturing on the United Nations to showcasing mysteries of an underwater universe on the tv screens of tens of millions.
It was throughout one such media affair that Philippe met his eventual spouse Ashlan Gorse, a seasoned journalist and on-air host working on the time as a correspondent for E! Information. Philippe’s impassioned campaign within the identify of conservation was evident from the beginning, and the indelible impression, Ashlan says, was sufficient to ponder a profession pivot.
“I bear in mind considering, ‘Why am I not speaking about folks like him, fairly than discussing the Kardashians getting a brand new haircut?’” she says, laughing. The duo clicked—personally, within the type of a 2013 wedding ceremony, and professionally, with every galvanizing the opposite to ameliorate the planet for generations to come back.
Conservation analysis, speeches, tv reveals and documentaries adopted, each challenge progressing past mainstream ocean sustainability efforts and into extra Augean realms of restoration. However by 2019, the duo realized their cumulative efforts have been vacant on one vital platform.
“We acknowledged the ability wellness manufacturers have, and in flip, the accountability these manufacturers have in making the world higher,” Ashlan says.
And as a profession oceanographer resembling Philippe is aware of, few good-for-you elements promote each bodily and ecological wellness higher than seaweed and algae. “Seaweed is a superfood, one of the vital nutrient-dense meals on the planet,” Philippe says. “It’s anti-inflammatory and helps with nervousness. The Omega-3s from algae are nice for temper stabilization, for mind and coronary heart well being. It’s good in your pores and skin, it’s hydrating, helps to construct collagen. Even for those who don’t care about all of the eco-goodness, it’s simply actually bloody good for you.”
The eco-friendly, restorative parts of seaweed do, in fact, matter to Philippe and Ashlan. Throughout a time when half the world’s coral reefs are lifeless or dying, and an more and more heat, acidic ocean unleashes new calamities upon its inhabitants, the easy seaweed plant stands prepared as a formidable weapon to be wielded by conservationists.
“Seaweed helps de-acidify the oceans,” Philippe says. “It sequesters carbon, supplies oxygen, creates a nursery for most of the ocean’s smaller creatures and supplies jobs in a brand new trade.”
Philippe’s wheels have been turning, however simply because the pair started exploring wellness concepts, a world pandemic unraveled the standard retail market. Outlets, gyms, salons, bars and eating places all shut their doorways to a public suspended in a state of real uncertainty.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) outlined a listing of important companies that will stay open. Hashish dispensaries occurred to be amongst them. So, throughout what’s going to certainly be remembered as essentially the most anxiety-riddled, bodily taxing interval in current historical past, the concept that would finally grow to be SeaWeed Naturals was born. Designed to fight nervousness and promote a wholesome way of life, the influence model affords harmoniously fused seaweed-cannabis wellness merchandise combining the identified advantages of hashish with the regenerative powers of marine botanicals.
“We got here into hashish not due to hashish itself however as a result of we had a hero ingredient within the type
of restoratively farmed seaweed,” Philippe says. “Hashish is, in some ways, the seaweed of the land. It sequesters carbon when it’s sungrown and helps with soil well being. These are extraordinary land and sea elements which are meant for one another.”
As a result of abundance of seaweed-based beauty merchandise already in existence, there was ample proof the ingredient might be emulsified into different, extra non-traditional makes use of. Nonetheless, the seaweed-cannabis method didn’t come with out its share of trial and error. “We had loads of additional lotions and gummies we needed to pattern round,” Ashlan says. “Our mates have been very pleased about that.”
SeaWeed Naturals’ ingredient fusion course of begins at Atlantic Sea Farms in Maine, the place space farmers are rising non-GMO verified, restorative seaweed as a part of a gradual shift that’s respiratory new life right into a generational enterprise decimated by local weather change.
Warming waters and acidification have spurred the world’s longtime lobster inhabitants north into Canadian waters, leaving an financial chasm the place there was as soon as a reliable supply of revenue. “A few of the Maine fishermen say that in 20 years there gained’t be a lobster fishery anymore—no less than not on the scale it exists now,” Phillipe says. “It’s scary. So, this supplies these folks with an alternate livelihood.”
Atlantic Sea Farms begins every cycle by guaranteeing farmers know the ins and outs of harvesting restorative seaweed. The farmers develop the ocean plant (some seaweed can develop as much as an astonishing foot per day), then commerce it again on the finish of every season. The workers at Atlantic Sea Farms dry the seaweed, chop it and grind it into powder to be ready for different merchandise, which now contains hashish.
“It’s all nonetheless comparatively new,” Ashlan says. “There have been folks rising seaweed, however shopping for seaweed is a more moderen improvement. We noticed our model as a approach to assist drive demand for restoratively grown seaweed and help the native economic system on the similar time.”
Subsequent, SeaWeed Naturals sources sungrown hashish from choose farms in California, lots of that are legacy farms struggling to compete with giant companies hellbent on delivering the most cost effective bulk product to shoppers.
Diverting enterprise away from grossly commoditized firms in favor of farmers who honor the plant, Philippe says, is an unflinching core worth of SeaWeed Naturals.
“Consider lettuce that has been grown with a bunch of pesticides and herbicides versus one thing grown at a farm that you just really need to feed your self,” Philippe says. “There’s a distinction in high quality and in worth. We need to help these farmers, not large firms which have hoovered up all these warehouses. From a values perspective, that’s vital to us.”
Values rooted in conservation proceed to encourage Ashlan and Philippe, simply as generations of Cousteaus earlier than have been as soon as roused to pursue the extraordinary for the well being of the planet. That generational authenticity has cast belief between a blossoming client base and a model that, because of mainstream client familiarity with seaweed, hopes to be a bridge to normalize THC for the canna-curious.
SeaWeed Naturals is accessible in California, and the duo quickly hopes to broaden regularly into different states. Nonetheless, what awaits over an unexplored horizon—be it within the hashish enterprise or conservation—could by no means be identified with any concrete certainty. However when has the unknown ever deterred a Cousteau?
As Philippe notes, devoting vitality to an efficacious, restorative product able to enhancing the planet, together with the lives of its denizens, is a voyage nicely well worth the enterprise. “We all the time need to be a part of that resolution.”
Effectively, Jacques Cousteau actually wouldn’t have it another approach.
This story was initially printed in concern 49 of the print version of Hashish Now. Learn it now on the Hashish Now iTunes app.
