Hi! I’m Paul Csagoly. I decided to create Earthly Communications in early 2013, building on some 25 years of communications experience. It’s mainly for public sector and not-for-profit clients, and mainly (but not only) for environmental (and health) causes. It’s here because I am particularly passionate about the environment, writing about it, and letting others know what’s really happening out there. This passion for environmental communications has a history.

At the age of about 9 in Toronto, Canada, I wrote a fictional novel about a future world where humankind had been forced to separate itself from nature, to ensure the survival of both. This inclination toward writing was re-awakened some 20 years later when I again wrote a fictional novel, this time for my Master’s thesis – about the need for Budapest, Hungary to reunite itself with the Danube River, its lifeline, after the fall of communism there. After working as a journalist with newspapers, I moved from Canada to Europe. I’d planned to be there for one year, and ended up being in Europe for 16.

First I worked for a Budapest-based newspaper (Central and Eastern Europe’s first English language paper). Then I was hired at the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as its headquarters editor and project manager. A few months later, I was heading a department of 15 staff, managing the production of information about the environment from Estonia to Hungary to Bulgaria, in numerous formats, including a magazine and contributions to the UN’s Global Environmental Outlook. I also helped 15 CEE country offices to develop their own information exchange departments.

The next nine years was spent mainly working for international organizations at the European and global level (e.g. United Nations, Global Environment Facility, European Environment Agency, World Wide Fund for Nature). The main geographic scope was European – either Europe-wide, the Danube River Basin, or the Carpathian Mountains. There were also some global products, such as support for the UN’s work in reducing impacts to the ozone layer. Much of my work was about water: freshwater and marine.

Over this time, I honed a number of skills. First and foremost, I’m a writer and editor. I’m also a knowledge manager – a relatively new field which helps organizations to identify, create, distribute and enable the adoption of knowledge, through a range of strategies and practices. I use “mind mapping” to organize information. I use strategic communications to deliver the right messages to the right people through the right vehicles to reach goals. I have experience with numerous communications products and activities (e.g. publications, media, social media, radio, events, workshops, images). I enjoy public speaking, teaching at university, and engaging listeners.

Much of my work has been through collaboration with scientific experts and organizations to transform complex scientific information into more readable, accessible, understandable and engaging outputs, summaries and messages, especially for decision-makers, NGOs and the public.

I have been involved in communications training for managers, journalists, experts and NGOs. I have written speeches for the head of the United Nations Environment Programme. I’ve taught an introductory course on environmental studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada; worked as an editor with the World Health Organization; and provided communications and auditing support to Canada’s Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development.