Love of nature turns into a lifetime passion

OCEAN VIEW-Soundman Gary Holland uses high-tech equipment to record the music of the ocean. He has traveled around the globe with the Cousteau film crew for two decades. Life's journey has taken Agoura Hills resident and filmmaker Gary Holland to some of the farthest reaches of the globe, yet his work is far from over.

The films he has made with Jacques Cousteau and Cousteau's son, Jean-Michel, have helped ignite worldwide interest in animals and the environment. The knowledge he has brought home to share after more than 20 years of expeditions from the Arctic Circle to the Amazon has created a greater understanding of the planet.

Holland is currently back home in between expeditions for a PBS series with Jean-Michel Cousteau. It's here that the 53year-old sound engineer pauses during a recap of his 50 lifetimes' worth of adventures, and asks, "But what have I really done?"

It started with a call

After school, Holland left New Orleans for California, taking up residence in Malibou Lake with friends. Holland was working on informational films for the defense divisions of major companies such as General Electric and Emerson when he got his break.

"It was a phone call out of the blue," Holland said of the day he heard from a representative for Cousteau in 1983. "I thought it was a joke at first. It was a dream. I mean, I was a conservationist, a fisher, a hunter, an environmentalist. I was a kid in the '60s, enamored with the Cousteau adventures."

Two days later, Holland was on his first expedition. In the beginning, however, it wasn't quite the dream he had hoped for.

"I was the first American on the crew, and there was some strong animosity toward me," Holland said. "I mean, 'sabotage' is a French word, and they knew it well."

Soon enough, though, Holland became a valuable crew member. He is well known in the industry for developing a unique technique that makes underwater hydrophone recordings in true stereo.

"When I was young I was sort of just screaming like someone with my hair on fire," Holland said. "No one listened. I was a rebel . . . a hippie. That was the draw of the Cousteau films. It gave those issues credence. It gave me, for the first time I think, that feeling of your job really making a difference."

Holland stayed with Cousteau for nine years, making films for TBS. When the contract was up, Holland went to work on feature films while raising his three daughters, but always kept in touch with the Cousteau family.

Grief and hope

Holland is open about the losses he and his causes have suffered. He spoke of the deaths of Jacques Cousteau and "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin as two great losses for nature.

"Without the likes of Capt. Cousteau and Steve Irwin we are somehow left a little more leaderless," Holland wrote in a recent letter to The Acorn. "We are one man down in our battle to protect the wild creatures of this planet that need every last advocate available."

Irwin was killed earlier this month after being struck by a stingray while filming with Philippe Cousteau, Jacques' grandson.

"Anyone who was as dedicated a conservationist as he was . . . anyone has to take some sort of calculated risks," Holland said. "It's the unknown. All you can do is go in with a healthy respect and regard, whether it's in the environment or wildlife."

There is a personal sadness to Holland when he speaks of these pioneer advocates for Earth and its animals. And his grief is also for his mother, whom he lost after Hurricane Katrina.

A New Orleans native, Holland grew up in blue-collar St. Bernard Parish, which the hurricane left in shambles. He's still close with many of the men he grew up with, eight of whom lost a parent during, or as a result of, Katrina.

"I was in Key West with the Cousteaus," said Holland, who reminisced about times when he used to play outdoors during hurricanes. "Right away I knew there was something different about Katrina."

After being trapped indoors for days, Holland's mother was airlifted from the roof of her building, where she had an apartment on the 15th floor. She was taken to a Red Cross shelter where Holland picked her up, but her health eventually deteriorated and she died.

Holland returned to his hometown Tuesday and is now collecting his mother's keepsakes from her apartment, which has been boarded up for more than a year. Although he said he felt some trepidation before the trip, Holland looked forward to going home. He hoped to restore some hope to those at his old stomping grounds.

With another Cousteau

After 16 years working in the motion-picture industry, Holland got back in the boat with JeanMichel Cousteau and his crew, spending most of last year shooting at all 13 U.S. national marine sanctuaries. The footage was compiled for "America's Underwater Treasures," part of Jean-Michel Cousteau's "Ocean Adventures" series on PBS.

One episode of the series, "Voyage to Kure," not only made it to the White House viewing room, but was reportedly a major factor in the president's decision to protect the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The special, which aired April 5, was said to have inspired Bush to name the area--the only site visited that wasn't yet protected--a national monument. It is now the world's largest protected marine area.

"The story goes that when President Bush finished watching, he stood up and walked over to his aides, and told them, 'Get it done,'" Holland said. "And President Bush, historically, has been no friend to the environment. That's kind of what, to me, put Jean-Michel on the map in his own right, to have an impact on Bush like that."

"America's Underwater Treasures" premiered Sept. 20 and will air again Wed., Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. on PBS. The journeys shown include diving expeditions with a wide variety of rare species, including an 800-pound grouper, humpback whales and spawning coral.

The environment talks back

Perhaps nothing will ever quench Holland's thirst to preserve the planet, but he is not willing to give up the fight. His major focus now is the impact that alternate energies will have on the world.

"In today's political climate, it's insane not to develop alternate energies," Holland said. "It's an issue of national security. . . . We need to figure out how to bring it to the forefront for consumers. It has to be done and we have to take the work out of it.

"Let's get it done like Americans can do."

Increasing the usage of solar panels and making it easier for people to find tax incentives to use more environmentallyfriendly methods are also on Holland's list.

"No other time in history has it been so clear," Holland said. "The environment is talking back to us. We're having a drastic effect on the environment--and we should be bright enough" to make changes.

With all the demons in his head, as Holland calls his ideas about everything from the battles in the Middle East to global warming, one thing brings him peace--sound.

"Sounds and music have always fascinated me," Holland said. "I'm spending time and I'll make the extra effort to find the most unusual and beautiful sounds.

"I'm always looking for the most interesting, magical, magnificent sounds I can bring into folks' living rooms, sounds that create appreciation for how beautiful this planet is and regard for how we move through this world. I take that responsibility very seriously."

The next season of "Ocean Adventures" will kick off with the crew visiting the Amazon, Holland's latest destination.