(Winter 1995) A Man, A Reef and His Dreams
B Y K R I S T I W O L F G A N G
How many people would leave six-figure jobs, downsize their homes, and use almost all their
savings in an attempt to make the world a better place? Luckily for our oceans' reef systems, Todd
Barber ( BBA '85, MA '87) is just that type of person. A long-term love for scuba diving and a serious
interest in environmental mental issues made him aware of the need to protect our remaining natural
reefs.
"My interest in reefs began when I learned to scuba dive at age 14 . l was in the Cayman Islands and
my father rented an underwater camera for me. I took pictures of one particular little reef and had
always intended to return, as an adult, and see how it had grown," recalls Barber. Three years ago, he
returned to fulfill his childhood wish, but instead discovered that Hurricane Gilbert had destroyed his
favorite reef. "I immediately decided that I would somehow rebuild this reef so that my child could learn
how to scuba dive in the same place I did," he says.
That night, over a few cocktails, Barber and his father brainstormed possible solutions to decrease a
natural reef system's destruction rate. "We came up with this crazy idea of constructing a buoyant and
inexpensive artificial reef by pouring concrete over a beach ball. Because of the inflated center, we
thought we could float it into the ocean by boat, and save the tremendous expense involved with renting
a crane and a barge to transport the object. Sinking the hall would be easy: just deflate the beach ball
center," he explains.
