Green Books Campaign – Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming

Leave a comment below to be registered for Greening Families’ very first Giveaway. The randomly selected winner will receive a copy of this book, as well as the honor of being our first winner! The winner will be drawn on Sunday, November 22.

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris’ website.

Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore is not an enumeration of the scientific details of research on climate change, as I thought when I first saw the title. It is instead a discussion of the efforts to hide and distort scientific findings by an extremely well-funded and -coordinated public relations blitz that is using the same game plan used successfully to protect tobacco from regulation for years.

Both of the authors are very qualified to discuss these issues. James Hoggan has more than 35 years of experience in public relations. He is the president of Hoggan & Associates, an award-winning Canadian public relations firm which he founded in 1972.  Richard Littlemore worked as a reporter for twenty years for Canadian newspapers, including the Ottawa Citizen and the Vancouver Sun, before he moved into freelance writing. He also sat as a delegate to the Canadian government’s Kyoto Implementation Process. Mr. Hoggan and Mr. Littlemore co-founded DeSmogBlog.com, for which Mr. Littlemore is the Editor-in-Chief, because they believe,

“There is a line between public relations and propaganda – or there should be. And there is a difference between using your skills, in good faith, to help rescue a battered reputation and using them to twist the truth – to sow confusion and doubt on an issue that is critical to human survival”

The book covers numerous crossings of that line, discussed in a clear and engaging manner. The information I found most enlightening and, frankly, distressing was the data shared on lobbying on the issue of climate change. Here are just a few of the facts shared:

• In 2004, the Center for Public Integrity reported that the oil-and-gas industry had spent more than $420 million on lobbying and political contributions in the preceding six years.
• More than 14% of that total – $60 million – came from one company, Exxon Mobil. (Yes, the same Exxon Mobile that has been earning record-breaking profits again and again and again.)
• Other pieces of the energy sector were equally active in purchasing lobbyists’ time. Southern Company is one of the United States’ largest generators of electricity, the great majority of which comes from burning coal, spent $25 million of lobbying between 2001 and 2004 plus another $4.4 million for political contributions.
• Between 2004 and 2009, there has been an increase of more than 300% in the number of registered lobbyists on climate change. There are now more than 4 climate lobbyists for each member of Congress.
• Spending for lobbyists has been increasing significantly. In 2007 alone, the oil-and-gas industry spent $82 million on lobbying. That increased 57% for 2008, bringing the total for lobbying in 2008 to $128.6 million.

Clearly the businesses involved believe their investment in lobbyists is worth it because they are not only maintaining this spending, even during this time of serious cost-saving measures, but also increasing it considerably. Given the articles linked above on Exxon Mobile’s record-shattering profits, I guess they are right.

The book contains much more explanation and detail about the extent of the movement to confuse, or at the very least postpone, a true dialogue on global warming and our world’s best next steps. I have to admit that PR is one of the professions for which I have not felt many positive feelings so the obvious depth of the authors’ feelings of betrayal in the first couple of chapters was initially startling. But as they laid out issue after issue and itemized common practices in manipulating the public discussion on global warming, I better understood the intensity of their outrage.

Global warming is a topic that has become incredibly politicized. The last chapter contains a piece of advice that surely everyone can agree makes sense.

“But this is not a time for easy answers. This is a time for right answers, which you will find only if you insist on the best sources, the respected journals and national science academies that have no agenda other than advancing the scope of human knowledge.”

The consequences of misunderstanding or underestimating the effects of global warming are too great. We need right answers. The information in Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming can help you discern where spin is getting in the way of the facts.

As mentioned above, Eco-Libris organized the Green Books campaign to highlight the fact that there are more eco-friendly methods available for book publishers. This book was printed on forest-friendly 100% post-consumer recycled paper, thus providing a market for all the junk mail and school worksheets we have been so diligently recycling. The paper was also processed chlorine-free. This means the publishers, Greystone Books, saved water as well as trees. As detailed on PlanetGreen.com, an 8×11 inch sheet of paper made with chlorine chemistry requires more than thirteen ounces of water (for each sheet!) while those made with chlorine-free technology require less than two ounces of water. After living through the hottest summer on record in Austin, which exacerbated our ongoing drought and pushed Lake Travis to its third lowest levels, I have a much deeper appreciation for water savings so was happy to see this! The book feels and reads exactly like our other books so the changes in the way this book was produced did not cause any loss of quality while still saving significant resources. I encourage you to check out the other books featured in the Green Book Campaign and to consider the publishing process utilized when purchasing books!

To help spread the word, Greening Families is offering its first Giveaway! To be entered to win our gently used copy of Climate Cover-Up, which we received as part of the Green Books Campaign, please leave a comment below on this post. We will announce the randomly selected winner on Sunday, November 22.