"This is no easy mission. But its difficulty is not our concern; we did not create the mission, and we cannot change it. The word 'mission' derives from the Latin root missus – which means 'sent.' We have been sent – to seek God, study the world, and serve humanity." Fr. John Jenkins re what the university should be in his inaugural address as president of Notre Dame University, quoted by Richard John Neuhaus in First Things December 2005

Our crowdfunding campaign for The Environment: A True Story had an excellent week last week. We're now at very nearly 80% with 13 days to go. So thanks very much to everyone who backed it and everyone who shared and promoted it, including Ezra Levant and The Rebel, Tom Harris of the International Climate Science Coalition and Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore. But we're not there yet. I'm keen to get going on the actual documentary, and I'm busy compiling and sorting information and creating the basic storyline. But we still need just over $10,000 to reach our minimum target, which my widget tells me means nearly $850 per day from now until April 16. And we'd really like to get a bit beyond the minimum to help us afford a new camera, a bit more travel for interviews and on-location filming, really good graphics and, well, food on the table between the end of this project and the start of the next one.

So if you've already contributed, many thanks. If you're not in yet, but you want to see common sense and sound science on climate change, please make a pledge today and get us to 80%, 90%, 100% and beyond. And either way, please keep sharing the project.

I know times are tough and people have all sorts of worthy demands on their budget, from looking after their own families to charitable giving to other desirable public policy causes. But in addition to meeting our target, it's important to have a lot of names in the credits to show how many people are fed up with bad policy based on bad science backed by bullying rhetoric. That's why anyone who can put in as little as $1 gets their name in the credits, unless they request anonymity, as a way of standing up for sensible and civil debate on a key issue.

We're heading into the home stretch and it's very gratifying. But we need your help to make it to the finish line.

Just how high are carbon taxes going to go in Canada? Fasten your seatbelt... in a car you can't put gas into. The federal Liberals are only talking soothingly about carbon taxes of $10/tonne, rising to $50 by 2022. But now the National Post reveals that in fact they know their targets would require $100/tonne within 3 years, and $300 by 2050. Meaning the virtual end of heating your home, cooking your food or getting around with any technology we actually have. It shouldn't really come as a surprise. Both the BC and Ontario governments are entirely open about their plans to reduce CO2 and equivalent emissions by nearly 80% by 2050. Which doesn't just spell doom for oil and gas producers. It means you, your kids and your grandkids will be ordered by government to use 80% less oil, gas and natural gas, necessarily requiring prohibitive taxes, strict regulations or probably both, and leading to a desperately impoverished lifestyle.

Now let me be clear here. If the "man-made global warming" or more recently "man-made climate change" crisis is as bad as the alarmists say, no price is too high to stop it. Not that their plans would, but that's another story. The point here is that you cannot concede the extremists' science then try to fight the carbon tax on the basis of jobs lost. If you agree that we are destroying the planet with CO2, you must agree to drastic measures to change our behaviour. You cannot, as conservatives too often do in this country and elsewhere, try to rally the troops round the white flag. To surrender on principle then fight on implementation makes you look like greedy fools, willing to incinerate the planet for short-term gain. Not a good PR strategy.

That's why The Environment: A True Story is so urgently needed. If I believed the alarmists' claims, I would be urging an end to fossil fuel use and what's more I would refuse to use the stuff myself. But the science is appallingly full of holes. And if we don't want to succumb to bad policy driven by bad science and wrapped in deceptive PR, we need to set the record straight.

So make a pledge today. And share it as widely as you can: the short link for social media is kck.st/2mrzS3w

Thanks to Ezra Levant and the Rebel Media crew for airing a segment promoting The Environment: A True Story. And thanks to all the Rebel viewers who responded by backing the documentary and got us past 62% and counting.Won't you join them, and see if we can get to 66% by the end of today? We literally cannot make these documentaries without your help. So if you want common sense and sound science on climate change, make a Kickstarter pledge now. P.S. If you want to support the documentary but are more comfortable sending a cheque, email jr- at – johnrobson – dot – ca and we'll give you the mailing address.

UPDATE: Thanks to Mike van Lammeren and Isabel Gibson who stepped up and put us past 60%. Now we need your help to get to the next milestone at 66%... then on to 75%, 90% and full funding. The deadline for making our target is April 16 and we can't do it without you. ---------------

The Environment: A True Story documentary project is this close to being 60% funded. Who wants to make the next pledge and get us past that mark?

It won't get us into the homestretch. There's still a ways to go, and just over 17 days in which to cover it. But if you want common sense and sound science on the issue of "man-made" climate change, won't you be the next contributor and push us past 60%?

P.S. If you've already backed the project, thank you again, and please share it as widely as possible.

"When you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." – LORD KELVIN/ "Yes, and when you can express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." – JACOB VINER Exchange quoted in Robert Higgs Crisis and Leviathan

Amazing! We just reached the half-way point on our Kickstarter funding campaign for The Environment: A True Story. Thanks so much to everyone who backed it. Now let's push on to 2/3, 3/4 and full funding because we're not out of the woods yet (or into them, depending where we film) and with Kickstarter, it's all or nothing. I'm convinced the time is right for this documentary showing how the alarmists' claims, and computer modeling, just aren't compatible with actual evidence. All that we know about the past history of the Earth, and the present, doesn't fit what they're telling us they know about the future.

So thanks to everyone who has already backed the project, and please continue helping us spread the word. If you're not yet a supporter, please make a pledge today and stand up against bad policy driven by bad science and shrill rhetoric, and in favour of civil discussion and common sense.

P.S. As I said from the outset, the $50,000 target is the minimum I need to make the film. Once we reach that number, and I'm confident we will, please continue sharing it until the April 16 deadline so we can afford the equipment, travel and graphics to make the best documentary possible.

Our documentary project "The Environment: A True Story" has already reached 20% of its funding target. Many thanks to all those who have backed it so far and are helping spread the word. Now let's get to the next milestone and then on to full funding so I can produce this film. If you're opposed to bad policy based on flawed science, and tired of the bullying and false claims (like that 97% of scientists agree with the alarmist scenario on man-made climate change, endlessly repeated by journalists and by politicians like Barack Obama but dissected here by the Friends of Science), make a pledge now so I can tell the real story of what we do know about the past history of the Earth and what it means for all of us today and tomorrow.

The time is right. Let's make it happen.