Johnnie Walker presents Stephen Mallon's photos of NYC Subway car reefs

I've always liked Stephen Mallon's photos of the repurposing of NYC Subway cars into artificial reefs. I want to go on one of these recycling adventures with the MTA to get some photos for myself too. But until then, I just have to sit at home and enjoy this video slideshow from Johnnie Walker. Pretty cool video. You should fullscreen it and then visit Stephen Mallon's website.

Turning Oil Rigs Into Reefs

This video reminds me of what the NYC MTA did with old Redbird Subway cars by dumping them into the ocean to create artificial reefs. This type of artificial reef, obviously, is made from defunct oil rigs in the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Southern California. It's amazing to see these giant structures turned into living spaces for aquatic life. The scale of these structures is insane, especially when you see in the video how small a diver is compared to just one single beam of support for these ocean structures. I've always wondered how these rigs are anchored to the ocean floor (is it just not as deep as I thought?) or are they just really, really, really insanely tall? Also, how do they not degrade with the salt water to the point where they just collapse slowly? So many questions...

But look at those reefs! Teeming with life and other sea creatures all using the base of the rig as a life support system. Pretty cool. I'd love to dive here too!

You can read up on this transformative process over at The New York Times.