26-April-2025 — This new page is being filled with info about the Gabriola Climate-12 “small neighbourhoods” project. We will start publicizing it once it’s complete.
Preamble: Why neighbourhoods? — In our Climate-12 work, the topic of small neighbourhoods (10–20 houses) came up again and again, as a way to address local climate concerns like water, food, health & well-being, …
In addition, it is well established (LINKS?) that one’s success in weathering significant events — storms, snow, fire, earthquake —is directly related to how many immediate neighbours know each other.
Neighbourhoods Action Team
A previous iteration of the Neighbourhoods Action Team (NAT) found or facilitated 16 (now 21) Gabriola neighbourhoods that had self-organized. But there’s an opportunity for many more. We are reactivating this team to help foster the formation of many more. This page gives some basic info on the project, for those who may be interested in joining the NAT, and for those wanting to organize their own neighbourhoods.
Existing neighbourhoods
For now, here’s a map of Gabriola with 16 organized neighbourhoods outlined in colour. (We will link to an expandable version of the map soon.)
Here’s the colour key, by name, of the organized neighbourhoods currently on our map.
Each neighbourhood typically has a designated contact person(s). If you want to contact them, email us at info@SustainableGabriola.ca and we’ll forward your inquiry to the contact.
Benefits of an organized neighbourhood:
- safety …
Resources
This section will include links to resources like:
- Neighbourhood Small Grants
- Emergency Social Services (ESS) contact + what it offers
- FireSmart contact + what it offers
- Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) resources
- more