SIP Reference

Scaled direct service

Every year after the full moons in late October and November, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef begins its annual spawning — first the coral species inshore, where waters are warmer, then the offshore corals, the main event. Last year, this natural spectacle coincided with the woolly propagation of two new colonies of the Crochet Coral Reef, a long-running craft-science collaborative artwork now inhabiting the Schlossmuseum in Linz, Austria, and the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.To date, nearly 25,000 crocheters (“reefers”) have created a worldwide archipelago of more than 50 reefs — both a paean to and a plea for these ecosystems, rainforests of the sea, which are threatened by climate change. The project also explores mathematical themes, since many living reef organisms biologically approximate the quirky curvature of hyperbolic geometry.

Based on a shared belief that ​“res­i­dents know what’s need­ed to con­tribute to a safe and thriv­ing liv­ing envi­ron­ment and should have a voice in shap­ing its changes,” the group iden­ti­fied sev­er­al goals to guide their work: pro­vide train­ing and assis­tance to build res­i­dents’ abil­i­ty to col­lect and inter­pret data that can ulti­mate­ly be used to inform com­mu­ni­ty change efforts; con­duct inter­views, sur­veys and oth­er activ­i­ties (led by res­i­dents, in part­ner­ship with a research firm) to col­lect reli­able data that answer research ques­tions iden­ti­fied through­out the project; share demo­graph­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics of who lives in the area, what ser­vices and resources exist and how res­i­dents are using them, and what else com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers would like to see; build the capac­i­ty and rela­tion­ships of project team mem­bers, res­i­dents and stake­hold­ers through team build­ing, pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment and engage­ment with var­i­ous stake­hold­ers; and  pro­vide resources and diverse oppor­tu­ni­ties to spur new ven­tures and businesses.

The process for attaining social justice we view as necessarily inclusive, respectful of human diversity and affirming of the capacity of all people to join with others to create change for our collective well-being. Social justice requires engaging everyone in democratic and collaborative processes grounded on the premise that there is enough to meet the needs of all.