A new study published by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology has found that the number of hurricanes in the past 100 years has doubled. Altered wind patterns and rising surface sea temperatures (SST's) caused by global warming are the culprits. The team studied hurricane frequency from 1900 to 2005 and found 3 distinct periods in which hurricane activity increased sharply and then stabilized.

Debate does exist however...

James Hoggan is the president of the public relations firm James Hoggan & Associates. Over the past two decades, Jim has earned a reputation as one of Canada’s leading public relations professionals. His clients have included A&W Foods, the North West Cruise Ship Association, Vancouver Port Authority, Canadian Tire, Business Objects and Canadian Pacific Rail.

He is the author of the PR Tips that regularly appear on the front page of the business section in The Vancouver Sun, and In 2003, James Hoggan & Associates won the Public Relations Society of North America’s most prestigious award – The Silver Anvil for the best crisis communications campaign in North America.

James Hoggan is Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, an executive member of the Urban Development Institute and Future Generations and a Trustee of the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education. He helped establish the Suzuki Foundation Business Council on Sustainability to encourage collaboration between the environmental and business communities. Jim’s interest in climate change and his commitment to practicing ethical public relations converged recently in the creation of the popular website DeSmogBlog. The blog exists to identify unethical PR tactics and to expose the PR people who are trying to confuse the public about climate change.

Here's a photo from a recent visit we had with Republican War on Science author Chris Mooney. Chris was in town to attend a panel discussion on global warming and the state of the media that was co-sponsored by DeSmog and the UBC School of Journalism.

As many of you know, last night we co-hosted an event with the UBC School of Journalism on the topic of global warming and the state of the media. With over 200 people in attendence and some great panelists, including out of town guests, Chris Mooney and Ross Gelbspan, the event was a huge success.

Thanks to all of you who attended and contrinuted to the great dialogue. And a special thanks goes to Chris Mooney and Ross Gelbspan for taking the time to come out and share their ideas.

Hey all you Vancouver DeSmog fans, come join us for  a great panel discussion on global warming and the media.

Special out-of-town guests include Ross Gelbspan, DeSmog writer and author of The Boiling Point and Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science and the soon to be released Storm World.

Other panelists include DeSmog co-founder Jim Hoggan, Hadi Dowlatabadi, UBC Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and Kirk LaPointe, Managing editor of the Vancouver Sun .

Here's the details of this FREE public event:

Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2007
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Location: UBC Robson Square Theatre, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver

If anyone needs any further information, call me at 778-773-0281