In this two-hour program, Jean-Michel Cousteau and the Ocean Adventures team visit the Amazon River Basin. The mighty Amazon River flows through the world's largest tropical rainforest, creating the most biodiverse area on the planet. Twenty-five years ago, Jean-Michel explored this fabled region with his father, Jacques Cousteau. Since then, an area the size of Texas has been deforested. From this region of urgency and conflict -- where human enterprise and expansion not only compromise the health and ecology of the river and rainforest basin, but also truly inflict consequences on a global scale -- come new beacons of hope and sustainability.

Return to the Amazon Viewing Guide: Intrigue your students with the vast global influence of the Amazon. Discussions, a map-based exercise and other activities will stimulate your students to think about their connection with the Amazon. Also included are clips recommended for classroom use and theme-based Viewing Questions to engage students while they watch the program.

Ocean Adventures Lesson Plans: Extend the learning of your students with these lesson plans that accompany the Web-original videos listed below.

• A Climate Conundrum: Design a solution to save populations of turtles affected by climate change.
• Adaptations – What a Concept: Learn about adaptations of the pink river dolphin through concept mapping, and then compare pink river dolphins with marine dolphins.

Ocean Adventures Web-Original Videos: Use these short (2- to 5-minute) videos to learn more about the Amazon's unique animals, its ecosystems and our impact on the Amazon River Basin.

• Hot Turtles: Find out about some of the unique turtles living in the Amazon and discover how climate change could forever alter their populations.
• Pink River Dolphins: Learn why pink river dolphins are especially suited for living in the murky waters of the Amazon.

Download Library: Create your own story about the Amazon. Download pictures of turtles, dolphins, the flooded forest and more!

Educator Web Links: Expand your curriculum with recommendations from the Ocean Adventures education team.

All Ocean Adventures Educational Materials: View all of the lessons and activities Ocean Adventures has to offer.

PDF File Format
These Ocean Adventures lessons and other materials are available as printer-friendly PDFs (Portable Document Format). To download and view the lesson plans as a PDF, you may first have to get Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free on Adobe's Web site. The Reader is available for most computer platforms, and once downloaded the lessons may be viewed on-screen as well as printed out. Get Acrobat Reader software (at adobe.com)