Climate Cover-Up

An insider's view of how the energy industry has fuelled a bogus controversy about climate change.

This book rips the lid off the campaign to discredit scientists, confuse journalists, and deny climate change. The tactics have been slick, but PR expert James Hoggan and investigative journalist Richard Littlemore have compiled a readable, accessible guidebook through the muck. Beginning with leaked memos from the coal industry, the oil industry and the tobacco-sponsored lie-about-science industry, the authors expose the plans to "debunk" global warming; they track the execution of those plans; and they illuminate the results—confusion, inaction, and an epidemic of public mistrust.

Climate Cover-Up names names, identifying bogus experts who are actually paid lobbyists and flaks. The authors reveal the PR techniques used to misinform, to mangle the language, and to intimidate the media into maintaining a phony climate change debate. Exposing the seedy origins of that debate, this book will leave you fuming at the extent, the effect, and the ethical affront of the climate cover-up.

James Hoggan, co-founder of DeSmogBlog.com, is president of James Hoggan & Associates, an award-winning public relations firm in Canada. Hoggan is also chair of the David Suzuki Foundation and a trustee of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education.

Richard Littlemore is a strategist and senior writer at James Hoggan & Associates and the editor of DeSmogBlog.com. He has served in the Canadian government's Kyoto implementation process and as an elected representative to the metropolitan government of Vancouver, BC. He lives in Nanaimo, BC.

"Climate Cover-Up examines the research organizations and academics who question weather human activity is causing dangerous global warming, and trace their arguments back to funding from the fossil-fuel industry." -Times Colonist

"Climate Cover-Up will convince most readers that there is a 'Climategate' scandal . . . powerful vested interests, the greedy, and those focused on the short-term continue to confuse the public by falsely framing the debate as yet to be settled." -American Scientist

"Climate Cover-Up is a must-read for anyone who's concerned about the biggest effort ever at media manipulation by the world's most powerful corporations . . . Hoggan's book is really about how a vast conspiracy has been undertaken by corporations opposed to reducing greenhouse gasses and pollution to convince the media that everything is just fine." -24 Hours

"Hoggan's must-read book describes in disturbing detail the well-oiled campaign to confuse the public and confound the science, creating enough doubt to thwart meaningful action and protect a world economic order built around the burning of oil, coal, and natural gas." -Toronto Star

"A compelling, sometimes chilling explanation of how public safety has been sacrificed on the altar of private interest." -Chris Mooney

"An expose of planetary scale." -Jim Hansen

"An imperative read for a successful future." -Leonardo Dicaprio

"Compelling insights for anyone interested in learning why there is so much confusion about this issue in the media." -Georgia Straight

"[A] spirited indictment of global warming deniers." -Publishers Weekly

"If you care about your wellbeing, the fate of your children and the environment, please read James Hoggan's new book, Climate Cover-Up." -Daily Observer

"No wonder the public is skeptical about climate change. They are being bombarded with a cacophony of contradictory messages and misled by a huge, well-funded misinformation campaign." -Tampa Tribune

"This is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of democracy." -Andrew Weaver

"Two Vancouver public relations professionals take a hard look at the role PR has played in stirring up doubt and piling on controversy in the climate change debate and how the mainstream media have responded to the onslaught. The writers, who also collaborate on www.desmogblog.com, hope to end the debate by exposing cases of public manipulation and private-interest deceit." -Granville Magazine