Climate Cover-Up

For a recent assignment in my PR Research and Strategies class, we had to read "Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade To Deny Global Warming" by James Hoggan.

The book, although very informative, was a hard read. There are so many names to keep track that the reader ends up flipping back and forth.

Our professor, Dr. Donnellan had the awesome idea of keeping a wiki for important names referenced in the book. That helped a lot in recalling which scientist was responsible for what. To visit the wiki click here.

I honestly didn't enjoy the book. For me, it was just too much information. That book should be a class.

I did, however, learn a lot about PR through this book.

Like for example, research is waaaaay more important than I imagined. But research in the sense of verification, checking people's references, investigating web sites. I had no idea that we needed to do that kind of in depth research.

The information on the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) has made me realize just how important research really is. The name alone sounds legitimate. But after reading more, you realize that the OISM is a farm shed and there are only six faculty members, two of whom are dead. Knowing this makes any information heard or read from the OISM carry little to no weight at all.

This is information that you would not know from face value. It requires research, but so many times we just receive information not questioning where it came from.

I know I'm guilty of it.

Are you?