Jim Hoggan

Jim Hoggan is the author of Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, an expose of how the false debate on climate change was manufactured by oil and gas companies and their PR firms. Hoggan holds this manufactured debate up as bad PR practices by traditional energy companies trying to convince the public of untruths about their environmental impacts, rather than doing the right thing and greening their operations.

Hoggan is the founder of the enormously popular DeSmogBlog, which exposes organizations and individuals he considers unethical, that are practicing bad PR and attempting to deny climate change. The blog has been visited by 520,000 people. It has received multiple awards, was named one of 2011’s best blogs by Time Magazine and was recognized by the Canadian Public Relations Society in 2007 for demonstrating “the highest ethical and professional standards while performing outstanding work.”

DeSmogBlog has been cited in 24 different media outlets and 4,500 other blogs, and is routinely highlighted in the world’s most popular news blogs: New York Times DotEarth, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and Treehugger. Its scoops have been picked up by the New York Times, UK Guardian, BBC, Globe and Mail, CBC and Associated Press. It often assists major media including ABC News, PBS, Associated Press, BBC World Service and the New York Times, in developing global warming story ideas and content.

DeSmogBlog discredits “experts” who misrepresent the science of global warming in the media by investigating their scientific background, funding sources, and industry interests. Hogganhas also gone after what he calls “astroturf,” or phony eco-grassroots, organizations that are really sponsored by industries seeking to thwart climate change-related legislation. Some favourite targets include Friends of Science, the Natural Resources Stewardship Project, the Global Climate Coalition, and the International Climate Science Coalition. He keeps a “Denial Database” of offenders.

Hoggan also speaks, writes, and presents widely on public attitudes about sustainability, climate change, and the environment. He serves as chair of the David Suzuki Foundation and as a Trustee of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education. He is the cofounder of Stonehouse Standing Circle, an innovative public-engagement and communications think tank.

He also served as chair of the Climate Project Canada, part of Al Gore’s international network of anti-climate-change advocates. And Hoggan led the Province of British Columbia’s Green Energy Advisory Task Force on Community Relations and First Nations Partnerships.

He is the president and owner of the Vancouver PR firm Hoggan & Associates, which has worked with a variety of industries including retail, food, and heavy industry since 1984. He and his firm have earned the respect of peers and environmentalists with an approach to PR that begins with doing the right thing and follows through with letting people know it. In 2003 Hoggan became one of the few Canadian recipients of a Silver Anvil award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). He is also the author of Do the Right Thing: PR Tips for a Skeptical Public, which offers specific tactics on engaging the public’s trust by conducting business as the public wants: ethically.

Hoggan holds a law degree from University of Victoria and a BA in English from the University of British Columbia. He is an avid skier (and has been an instructor at Whistler since 1990), snowboarder, cyclist and art collector.

Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, 2009, Greystone Books