Alexandra Cousteau has officially returned to Washington after spending 138 days on the road in the bus formerly known as the Straight Talk Express, Sen. John McCain‘s campaign bus during the 2008 presidential campaign. Cousteau, granddaughter of the famous French explorer Jacques Cousteau and a D.C. resident, used the vehicle for a road trip across North America, an expedition to explore water issues in America’s “backyard.”
“I realized that one of the great challenges was to help people understand, whether it’s here or elsewhere, it’s not just Africa and Asia and Latin America, these water issues are critical and they are happening here in North America as well,” Cousteau said. On the trip, Cousteau visited Mexico, where the Colorado River had once touched the sea; she visited Kingston, Tenn., nearly two years after the TVA Kingston coal ash spill; and spent three weeks on the Gulf coast. “Seeing the Gulf of Mexico is an example of how broken communities are once you poison their water,” Cousteau noted. Instead of doing one long documentary, Cousteau and her team filmed short videos and are posting them online.
When planning the expedition, the team needed an environmentally friendly way to travel and a place to produce the films. Enter the Straight Talk Express. The gas-guzzling bus, which was used by Paul McCartney after the 2008 campaign, was transformed into a biodiesel speedster. The big blue bus was never renamed, however, just dubbed “the Rolling Calypso.” “I think people think it’s kind of a cool anecdote,” Cousteau said.
