Imagine transforming the way students learn and connect with the world around them. Nature Labs is helping make this a reality. But we can’t do this alone.
We need to raise $25,000 to keep Nature Labs online, free, and growing in 2025.
We’ve come so far, together:
When we first set out to build Nature Labs, we were told it was impossible. We were told we’d need millions to realize our dream. Not true. We just needed you and a lot of hard work. And while it took a little longer than we expected – you can’t predict global pandemics and ill health – we created exactly what we set out to achieve.
Nature Labs is plug-and-play and flexible for educators. It is inquiry-driven, relatable, and relevant for students. With hundreds of stories that meet existing curricula in all 13 Canadian jurisdictions for five high school grades, we’ve helped level the education playing field in our country. And, of course, Nature Labs never tells students what to think, but at every step, we do make them think.
In the ten weeks since we launched Nature Labs, more than one hundred schools and 15,000 students are using Nature Labs in every corner of the country and around the world.
But to make all of this a reality? It’s taken everything we have: every hour of every day for six years, every ounce of energy, every dollar in our bank accounts.
And, in these divided times, we still can’t take money from the usual sources without running afoul of one region or another.
That’s why we still need your help.
Here’s our challenge:
Canada is becoming increasingly polarized and divided, with fewer and fewer people understanding how our systems work and interconnect, whether ecological, political, economic, or cultural. And we increasingly don’t understand our place in this complex, ever-changing world.
The consequence isn’t just misunderstanding, but misinformation that rots the foundation of our democracy and robs us of our ability to work together to solve the shared challenges we face.
We believe fostering systems – and, yes, nature – literacy, healing our democracy, and combatting misinformation begins with education. But this must be a societal challenge, not another burden placed on the shoulders of educators.
This is why we created Nature Labs.
But Nature Labs is the great experiment. We’re learning that we’ll need three years to get Nature Labs into enough classrooms in order to determine if this virtual textbook can successfully address a critical gap in our education system and be financially sustainable.
Making it through three more years? Giving Nature Labs away for free to build critical mass and test it properly? That’s going to be tough.
This, we hope, is where you come in.
Stand with us:
If you like what we’ve created – if you believe in what we’ve created – we need you to stand with us.
We need to raise $25,000 to keep the web site online, to keep updating content as the world changes, to keep releasing new content that contextualizes breaking news, and to keep building relationships with teachers and school districts to ensure that what you’ve helped us build has impact.
If you want us to keep going, if you want us to properly assess the impact of Nature Labs, if you want to revolutionize education, if you want to help repair and restore our democracy?
We need you.
Nature Labs isn’t perfect. We’re not perfect! But in times like these, when nothing is working and everything feels broken and uncertain, the status quo is unacceptable. We need to try new things. We need to move beyond hope and be brave with what we attempt.
Nature Labs is our answer to this.
And if you agree? Stand with us. Walk with us. Help us keep pushing forward, proving that anything and everything is possible when we work together.