Jacques Cousteau and The Great Barrier Reef Costume

Who we are – Jacques Cousteau and The Great Barrier Reef

Why we decided to make this…

My 6 year old daughter Sukari and I are deeply into conservation. We love to watch documentaries together like David Attenborough’s Planet Earth. This year we learned a lot about the plight of the Great Barrier Reef.

The first message we wanted to share with our friends and family was this:

Scientists have reported that it has lost 50% of its corals since 2016 and new coral growth has declined by 89%.

Some of the reasons for mass coral bleaching...

• Rising ocean temperatures from climate change
• Ocean acidification due to increasing levels of CO2
• Beef industry runoff
• Oil and chemical spills
• Pollutants from sunscreens and garbage
• Overpopulation / Overfishing

Each year we are breaking new ocean warming and climate records. Scientists estimate that 99% of corals across the globe are likely to be lost if global heating reaches the 2C threshold which we are currently on track to hit.

The second message we wanted to share was regarding our planets addiction to plastic.

From birthdays to decorations to costumes, one of the biggest problems with holidays is the enormous amount of waste they produce. When making this costume, Sukari and I put a lot of effort into using what we had lying around the house. Only about 3% of what we used on our costume this year was newly purchased (vegetable dye, eco-paint and Jacques Cousteau’s pipe).

Over the past 4 months, we have been foraging our community recycling bins for the rest of the materials. For corals and fish, we used styrafoam, eggshell cartons, straws, plastic wrap, wire tops from sparkling wine bottles and even a broken feather duster. For candy collecting, we made a jellyfish bucket from a large wad of shredded plastic we found on the street. The tulle fabric used for the ocean is repurposed from a dress I made 11 years ago and the frame for the dress was made using metal dry cleaning hangers. The velvet coral fabric is from cushion covers I was about to donate and the sea urchins are made from sink drains and old zip ties.

Our whole goal this year was to highlight the plight of the Great Barrier Reef and to show people that we don’t need to go to a store to buy a costume, we just need to use our imaginations and look in our garbage bins. I’m hoping we had an impact somehow…

Thank you kindly,

Taya Maxey and my daughter Sukari