{"id":24184,"date":"2023-03-18T16:14:20","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T20:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/?post_type=dan_alert_diver&p=24184"},"modified":"2023-05-31T15:47:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T19:47:56","slug":"liz-taylor-a-diver-and-a-doer","status":"publish","type":"dan_alert_diver","link":"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/fr\/alert-diver\/article\/liz-taylor-a-diver-and-a-doer\/","title":{"rendered":"Liz Taylor : Un plongeur et un homme d'action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hometown:<\/strong> Oakland, California<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Age:<\/strong> 63<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years Diving:<\/strong> 50<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why I\u2019m a DAN Member:<\/strong> I have endless gratitude for DAN\u2019s ongoing research, reporting, and educational efforts alongside the outstanding service network for divers wherever they may go. DAN membership provides meaningful support for divers of every skill level and discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A conversation with Liz Taylor is a delightful discussion centered on the myriad passions that matter to her, from her four dogs to DOER Marine, the for-benefit business she has been running since 1994 with her husband, Ian Griffith, in Alameda, California. Taylor\u2019s mother, famed oceanographer Sylvia Earle, started DOER (Deep Ocean Exploration and Research) Marine in 1992 to expand knowledge about the ocean and the challenges facing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Unique Childhood<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Born in Dunedin, Florida, in 1960, Taylor grew up on a farm on the state\u2019s Gulf Coast. Earle was 20 when she married Taylor\u2019s father, Jack, an invertebrate biologist. \u201cObviously, both parents being marine scientists helped me a lot [in learning to dive],\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d end up going out to the beach, getting on the boat, and interacting on the water,\u201d she continued. \u201cI enjoyed every opportunity to put on a mask and snorkel. When I was very young and we were in Florida a lot, it was incredible to float around in the seagrass beds. How could you drag yourself away from those big meadows? There was so much diversity in the intersection of the mangroves and seagrass. My dad was always dragging in the worms, clams, and oysters. I started to wonder about things like what happens to a little turtle that is so tiny now, but I know it will get so much bigger. It was just natural for me to be curious.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Liz
COURTESY LIZ TAYLOR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As absorbing as her ocean education was, her formal schooling was disjointed. \u201cWe had a triangle of home bases \u2014 Florida, Boston, and California \u2014 and because of expeditions and other things that were going on, there were often inconsistencies in my schooling,\u201d Taylor said. When she was 13 years old, she received formal dive training at UNEXSO in the Bahamas. \u201cI felt like I was getting Navy SEAL training. It was very rigorous \u2014 two weeks, eight hours a day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a teenager, she volunteered at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco and started a dive club in high school to raise awareness about the ocean. After graduation, she took some community college courses. \u201cI got some core courses out of the way, but I was also able to say, \u2018Oh, by the way, I\u2019m making a seven-week expedition to count whales.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1981 she started classes at the University of California, Davis, where she studied marine ornithology. After a call to come home to help with some family matters, she transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where she was permitted to create an independent major that incorporated courses in English, communications, natural sciences, and natural history. After graduation in 1985, she worked on projects that allowed her to pull together all her passions \u2014 diving, natural history, and natural sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"6,000-meter-rated
DOER designed and built the 6,000-meter-rated Lu\u2019ukai ROV for the University of Hawaii. Taylor served as chief scientist and family liaison during an aircraft recovery operation. \nCOURTESY LIZ TAYLOR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Taylor,
Ocean exploration is a family pursuit. Taylor, her two children, and her mother, Sylvia Earle, visit the Alvin submersible.\nCOURTESY LIZ TAYLOR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

DOER Marine\u2019s Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Taylor and Griffith have grown DOER Marine from a consulting and field services firm to a full-service engineering solutions company, occupying historic Hangar 41 on the former Alameda Naval Air Station, now known as Alameda Point. Taylor and the DOER team have worked on several critical projects, such as supporting the BBC production Blue Planet II<\/em>, assisting James Cameron\u2019s Deepsea Challenger expedition to the Mariana Trench, and performing critical infrastructure inspections of dams and bridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am an active listener, and I can help people\u2019s needs by being a problem-solver. We are doers,\u201d Taylor said with a smile. \u201cThe company is really about solving problems for people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company is also working to improve the sharing of critical marine data. \u201cFor so many years we have seen data hoarding,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIf you\u2019re looking at change over time, much of the data is locked away or deteriorating, and that data will be lost. It\u2019s infuriating, and it\u2019s sad. You see places, particularly big research institutions, that are doing great work but embargo the data for years. We don\u2019t have time. We have to figure out ways to incentivize this data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is justifiably proud of a project with Google and the U.S. Navy to bring the ocean into Google Earth. \u201cGoogle said that it shouldn\u2019t be so hard, but they hadn\u2019t designed the software to go below sea level,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cGoogle had to rewrite the entire program. We went to the Navy for the bathymetric data we needed to map the bottom in 3-D, but we had so much disparate types of data \u2014 paper charts, microfiche, DVDs, CDs, and tapes \u2014 that we hired several retired bathymetric naval specialists who could make sense of it and convert it into a format that Google Earth\u2019s platform could understand.\u201d The project took three years to complete and launched in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor assesses potential DOER projects to ensure that each endeavor increases global ocean awareness. \u201cWe need a healthy ocean if we are to be healthy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe real mission is to make a difference. It might be helping a city with a horrific aqueduct issue that requires us to get inside to see what\u2019s happening, or it could be helping scientists access particularly challenging environments, such as really deep water. We take the idea that\u2019s in their head and produce something useful for them in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2023 inductee into the Women Divers Hall of Fame, Taylor hopes to get people to think about little things they can do every day that collectively can make a big difference. \u201cDivers are so important because they are witnesses,\u201d she said. \u201cThey see the marine trash and debris, the old fishing gear, and all this stuff. They can bring it back and say, \u2018Look, what are we doing?\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTime is short. You can be impactful. Speak up. Care about the Earth\u2019s natural systems. That\u2019s the power we all have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Explore More<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Learn about why the ocean matters in this video featuring Liz Taylor and her mother, Sylvia Earle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n