Ghost Bear

<div style="text-align: center;">GhostBear.org | NatureLabs.ca</div> Jill and Simon are the quirky - yes, let's call them quirky – designers and storytellers behind the non-profit Ghost Bear Institute’s Nature Labs. We believe that balanced storytelling can unleash the type of creative thinking needed to better balance the needs of people and nature. How? Nature Labs seeks to create a virtual high school textbook that uses nature as a real-world example of class lessons. We want to equip teachers with the resources they need to meet existing curriculum guidelines and provide students with a mosaic of stories and real-time connections that can connect their class to their lives. Why? We want create a new generation that acts with a foundation of nature literacy in all that they do.This isn't David Attenborough. Or David Suzuki. (Though we do have our own David: Simon's legal first name! Anyway...)&nbsp;It's Nature Labs. Or, for you, our (hopefully) faithful Patreon subscribers, it's a window into the stories we'll tell and the adventure that is bringing Nature Labs to life. Sometimes serious and often ridiculous, we invite you to join us on a journey unlike any other… ...Into one of the most spectacular ecosystems in Canada’s Rocky Mountains and the fragile, yet resilient lives of three remarkable grizzly bears… …Into the boardroom of one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs to learn what nature means to Jimmy Pattison, and into the kitchen of Canada’s most innovative chef, Marc Lepine, as he demonstrates why his food tells nature’s stories… …Into the minds of a couple who are risking everything (Will we have a home in a year? Who knows! No more normal food, just meal bars (and pizza) to save money! Who needs razor handles to shave - let’s cut that too!) to build a vision we hope can help change the world. We want to share with you EXCLUSIVE images from the field.&nbsp;We want to bring you virtually into our world to experience what we experience and learn alongside us. We want to give you an unfiltered, unglamorous look at what it takes to bring a new idea to life: A former high school teacher learns programming and audio! The kid who tried to save the spirit bear learns to drive (maybe)! Two married people try living in a tent for three months (again)! A non-profit discovers how little funding exists for non-partisan storytelling (hint: none)! We know where we want to go, but we don’t know how many twists and turns still await us. And we know we can’t do it alone. But in joining with us, we can stumble along this path together - and laugh about it! - as we try to do our part to create a better world.&nbsp;So join us, won't you? * Ghost Bear institute is a federally registered non-profit organization. We cannot issue tax receipts. <div style="text-align: center;">GhostBear.org | NatureLabs.ca</div>

Free

For the price of just one cup of weak, overpriced coffee a week, you can support nature literacy!<ol><li>Be the first to know! Receive EXCLUSIVE access to our semi-regular irregular updates and be the very first to know about our very latest disasters: Fires! Floods! Dead bears! Oh my!</li><li>Be part of our community! Join us for an EXCLUSIVE quarterly Patreon community video chat via Facebook live. It’s your chance to ask us anything. Anything! Like why are pika so creepy (and what the heck is a pika?)?! Why does Simon always wear the same shirt?! How are the Blue Jays going to manage their payroll and stay competitive and improve the bullpen?!</li><li>Free photo! Each month we’ll share with you one EXCLUSIVE, never-before-seen nature image from our collection for your personal use. Stare at a bear photo on your desktop in winter and wish it was spring! Print it and hang it on your wall and spare a thought for those who only decorate their walls with Post-It notes!</li><li>Discount! Maybe one photo isn’t enough and you need more photos to decorate your walls RIGHT NOW! Fear not, Patreoner: you get an EXCLUSIVE 10% discount on all purchases from our store, with all proceeds supporting Nature Labs.</li><li>Instagram Secret Stories! Whoever said that secrets don’t make friends has never seen our Instagram secret stories. These near-daily stories are an EXCLUSIVE look at Simon’s weirdest habits: His deathly fear of sandwiches! His conversations with his computer! His extremely weird (yet oddly sweet) relationship with a parking lot-dwelling goose! These stories are always filmed secretly, to enjoy Simon at his absolute weirdest, maximizing your personal enjoyment. Also: Jill shows you how she endures life with Simon! Also: You gain a new follower; we will follow you back!</li></ol>

For the price of a movie date, you can support nature literacy! (Do people still go to movies in this post-pandemic world? Do people still date? Actually, how much do movies cost? Not $10 a ticket?! What?! How much does milk cost?! WHAT?!) <ol><li>So many perks! Every single VIP benefit. Every. Single. One.</li><li>Discount! Maybe one photo isn’t enough and you need more to decorate your walls RIGHT NOW! Fear not, Patreoner: you get an EXCLUSIVE 15% discount on all purchases from our store, with all proceeds supporting Nature Labs.</li><li>Nature Labs Podcast Series! EXCLUSIVE access to our monthly Nature Labs Podcast Series: We sit down with everyone from former prime ministers to top chefs – and everyone in between – to hear provocative ideas and divergent perspectives on how to better balance the needs of people and nature.</li></ol>

MAJOR LEAGUER

For the price of one – likely cold, likely terrible – pizza delivery a month, you can support nature literacy!<ol><li>So many perks! Every single VIP and Major Leaguer benefit. Every. Single. One.</li><li>Discount! Maybe one photo isn’t enough and you need more to decorate your walls RIGHT NOW! Fear not, Patreoner: you get an EXCLUSIVE 20% discount on all purchases from our store, with all proceeds supporting Nature Labs.</li><li>Animal Stories! Short, modern, quirky, fun stories that, once per month, introduce you to your natural neighbourhood and ask the questions you’ve been dying to have answered: Surprising facts you don’t know about grizzly bears! (They like to mate with a view!) Why lynx exist! (Turns out we don’t really know why!) The greatest R/raptor of all time? (Not the red tailed hawk and not Vince Carter!) Is there an evolutionary purpose to that dangly piece of skin-fur hanging below the neck of a moose? (No spoilers here!)</li></ol>

SUPERSTAR

For the price of one socially distanced dinner out per month, you can support nature literacy! <ol><li>So many perks! Every single VIP and Major Leaguer and Superstar benefit. Every. Single. One.</li><li>Discount! Maybe one photo isn’t enough and you need more to decorate your walls RIGHT NOW! Fear not, Patreoner: you get an EXCLUSIVE 50% discount on all purchases from our store, with all proceeds supporting Nature Labs.</li><li>Nature Labs Mini Docs! Starting in 2022, see our provocative, monthly mini-docs that are way, way hotter than anything you’ll find at Hot Docs. These stories take you into the wild – and into the wild minds of decision makers – to ask the hard questions we that must be asked: Can we heal our democratic divides and protect biodiversity? What happens when conservation and social justice collide? Should we – or can we - save every species?</li><li>Limited edition fine art print! Receive one 16x24” fine art print from our LIMITED EDITION gallery (your choice!) OR a stunning Paula J. Lay spotted owl watercolour print from her Vanishing: Our Endangered Animals series. The print will be mailed each year (shipping’s on us!), at the end of your 12-month subscription.</li></ol>

TITAN

For less than the cost of one meal for one person at Atelier, the famed restaurant of Canada’s Most Innovative Chef (Nature Labs interviewee!) Marc Lepine, you can support nature literacy! (What a deal!)<ol><li>So many perks! Every single VIP and Major Leaguer and Superstar and Titan benefit. Every. Single. One.</li><li>Discount! Maybe you have a lot of walls. Like a lot. And maybe Post-It notes aren’t your jam. Maybe you like photos – our photos! – on your walls. Lots of them. Fear not, Patreoner: you get an EXCLUSIVE at cost discount on all purchases from our store. Say what?! That’s right! You can buy anything from our store – even limited edition prints – at cost. Those walls are going to look amazing. (Send us an email with any of your selections!).</li><li>TWO limited edition fine art print! Receive one 16x24” fine art print from our LIMITED EDITION gallery - your choice! We pay the printing cost! AND, in the words of every telemarketer ever: That’s not all! You also receive a stunning Paula J. Lay spotted owl watercolour print from her Vanishing: Our Endangered Animals series. The prints will be mailed each year, at the end of your 12-month subscription. Did we mention shipping’s on us?! That’s right, only the best for our heroes.</li><li>Sneak Peak! Be the very first – THE VERY FIRST – to see the project that caused us to go grey: Nature Labs!</li><li>Support a school! You choose one school to be the very first to test and use Nature Labs in the classroom!</li><li>Brag about being a hero! That’s right! We’ll tell everyone you’re our hero and make sure every teacher and every student using Nature Labs knows you’re the hero that made this tool possible. Go ahead. Brag. You’ve earned it, hero!</li></ol>

HERO

You receive every single benefit a Hero deserves. After all, you’re not just a Hero, you’re also a VIP and Major Leaguer and Superstar and Titan. But you’re more than a Hero.You’re a Superhero. Why? Because you – and you alone – are our magical source of inspiration and awe, single-handedly helping us overcome our personally-assigned four horsemen of the apocalypse (fire, flood, concussion, dead animal characters). Without you, we’re mere mortals. But with you? Anything and everything is possible. Like Nature Labs! Way to go, Superhero!!

SUPERHERO

You receive every single benefit a Superhero deserves. After all, you’re not just a superhero, you’re also a VIP and Major Leaguer and Superstar and Titan and an all round hero. But you’re more than a superhero.You don’t need to be faster than a speeding bullet or spin spider web out of your fingers (ewwwww) or be some half-assed version of a much cooler, actual wolverine. Why? Because you’re above it all. Literally. Remember those cute general apocalypses we were assigned by our personally-assigned four horsemen of the apocalypse (fire, flood, concussion, dead animal characters)? No? We don’t either! You eradicated them! Not only that, thanks to you, we’re building Nature Labs faster (maybe with help!) and we’re eating breakfast! Like actual food that’s not a meal bar! And we’re sleeping! Like more than four hours a night! Wow. WOW! So impressive. Breakfast?! Sleep?! That’s talent.

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