Interview: Taking on the Skeptics Stirring Up the Warming Debate

The recent controversy over hacked e-mails in the climate science community has emboldened global warming skeptics who dismiss the notion that humanity is dangerously heating up the planet. But James Hoggan, owner of a Canadian PR firm and founder of the Desmogblog, is taking on the deniers, accusing them of cynically obfuscating an issue long ago settled by mainstream science. In his new book, Climate Cover-Up, Hoggan attacks the skeptics’ well-funded PR campaign, which he says is designed to do one thing: sow doubt among the general public about the reality of global warming, thereby staving off government regulation of greenhouse gases. Speaking with Yale Environment 360, Hoggan discusses the hundreds of millions of dollars that oil and coal companies and conservative foundations have spent to spread the message of doubt, and he excoriates those scientists who he says are often unqualified but who have taken up the banner of global warming skepticism. Soon, Hoggan says, these deniers will look as foolish as the scientists who once claimed that smoking did not cause cancer. Speaking of the forces behind the campaign to belittle global warming, Hoggan said, “I think they have a lot to answer for today, and they will have a lot more to answer for down the road.”

Read the interview with Hoggan.