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They Knew: The US Federal Government’s Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis
A devastating, compelling account of the federal government's leading role in bringing about today's climate crisis.
In 2015, a group of twenty-one young people sued the federal government in Juliana v. United States for violating their constitutional rights by promoting climate catastrophe and thereby depriving them of life, liberty, and property without due process and equal protection of law. They Knew offers evidence supporting the children's claims, presenting a devastating and compelling account of the federal government's role in bringing about today's climate crisis. James Gustave Speth, tapped by the plaintiffs as one of twenty-one preeminent experts in their climate case, analyzes how administrations from Carter to Trump—despite having information about the impending climate crisis and the connection to fossil fuels—continued aggressive support of a fossil fuel based energy system.
What did the federal government know and when did it know it? Speth asks, echoing another famous cover-up. What did the federal government actively do and what did it fail to do? They Knew (an updated version of the Expert Report Speth prepared for the lawsuit) presents the most definitive indictment yet of the US government's role in the climate crisis.
Since Juliana v. United States was filed, the federal government has repeatedly taken unprecedented steps to delay the case and force it to the appellate courts' shadow dockets. Yet as the case progresses slowly but certainly, it is inspiring a generation of youthful climate activists.
An Our Children's Trust Book
In 2015, a group of twenty-one young people sued the federal government in Juliana v. United States for violating their constitutional rights by promoting climate catastrophe and thereby depriving them of life, liberty, and property without due process and equal protection of law. They Knew offers evidence supporting the children's claims, presenting a devastating and compelling account of the federal government's role in bringing about today's climate crisis. James Gustave Speth, tapped by the plaintiffs as one of twenty-one preeminent experts in their climate case, analyzes how administrations from Carter to Trump—despite having information about the impending climate crisis and the connection to fossil fuels—continued aggressive support of a fossil fuel based energy system.
What did the federal government know and when did it know it? Speth asks, echoing another famous cover-up. What did the federal government actively do and what did it fail to do? They Knew (an updated version of the Expert Report Speth prepared for the lawsuit) presents the most definitive indictment yet of the US government's role in the climate crisis.
Since Juliana v. United States was filed, the federal government has repeatedly taken unprecedented steps to delay the case and force it to the appellate courts' shadow dockets. Yet as the case progresses slowly but certainly, it is inspiring a generation of youthful climate activists.
An Our Children's Trust Book
304 pages, Paperback
Published August 23, 2022
18 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 9, 2022
Perhaps the most troubling and persuasive book that I have read about the politics of climate.
In 2015, 21 children sued the United States government, alleging that federal officials had denied them their constitutional right to life, liberty and property by failing to act on climate change. There are now nearly 900 similar cases across the country. Circuit courts have dismissed the initial filing, which the plaintiffs are now seeking permission to amend.
What Bill McKibben argues from the standpoint of nature, this book argues from the vantage of law.
This book is based on the expert testimony in the case prepared by former US climate officer James Speth. He argues that the federal government had ample evidence of the reality of climate change, that Congress and many presidents acknowledged this reality and pledged to act on it, and that they repeatedly did not do so. This state of affairs is so long-lived, so entrenched, the testimony comes from the climate officer under President Jimmy Carter, 50 years ago.
This book is instructive about how the science has moved from theoretical concern to ironclad data, from making predictions to seeing them come true. From California wildfires to rising seas, fatal heat waves in Europe to Chinese regions' near total loss of a year's crops due to record temperatures, there is no longer any question except among those for whom denial is a matter of business ambitions or political calculation.
Speth puts their qualms to rest, with calm reasoning and devastating evidence. They knew, those presidents, those leaders in Congress, they knew for years, for decades, Democrats and Republicans alike. They knew and did not act.
The American people knew. They bought electric cars and insulated their homes and changed their lifestyles, new companies invented and improved alternative energy sources, nonprofit organizations found ways to absorb carbon and reduce waste. Yet the existing energy companies continued with business as usual, and Washington allowed it. Even subsidized it.
Recently we've seen the first ever meaningful climate law to come out of Washington. May it not be too little and too late. This book is a powerful argument that we could have done much more, we should have done it 50 years ago.
In 2015, 21 children sued the United States government, alleging that federal officials had denied them their constitutional right to life, liberty and property by failing to act on climate change. There are now nearly 900 similar cases across the country. Circuit courts have dismissed the initial filing, which the plaintiffs are now seeking permission to amend.
What Bill McKibben argues from the standpoint of nature, this book argues from the vantage of law.
This book is based on the expert testimony in the case prepared by former US climate officer James Speth. He argues that the federal government had ample evidence of the reality of climate change, that Congress and many presidents acknowledged this reality and pledged to act on it, and that they repeatedly did not do so. This state of affairs is so long-lived, so entrenched, the testimony comes from the climate officer under President Jimmy Carter, 50 years ago.
This book is instructive about how the science has moved from theoretical concern to ironclad data, from making predictions to seeing them come true. From California wildfires to rising seas, fatal heat waves in Europe to Chinese regions' near total loss of a year's crops due to record temperatures, there is no longer any question except among those for whom denial is a matter of business ambitions or political calculation.
Speth puts their qualms to rest, with calm reasoning and devastating evidence. They knew, those presidents, those leaders in Congress, they knew for years, for decades, Democrats and Republicans alike. They knew and did not act.
The American people knew. They bought electric cars and insulated their homes and changed their lifestyles, new companies invented and improved alternative energy sources, nonprofit organizations found ways to absorb carbon and reduce waste. Yet the existing energy companies continued with business as usual, and Washington allowed it. Even subsidized it.
Recently we've seen the first ever meaningful climate law to come out of Washington. May it not be too little and too late. This book is a powerful argument that we could have done much more, we should have done it 50 years ago.
February 27, 2024
Reads fairly legal (because it is!) but this book is so incredibly important. The citations included in the book really emphasize how much research has gone into the Juliana lawsuit. Such a rage-inducing read.
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October 27, 2024The details in this book show the fossil fuel companies themselves as well as the government and its leaders knew decades ago about the dangerous implications of burning fossil fuels; and one after the other, our leaders simply failed to lead, failed to protect us all.
November 22, 2021
What a sober chronicle of recent administrations, a devastating account for what we know, what was and is well known, and for what is in store. Wishing away is not an option, vote
February 27, 2023
Thorough and infuriating.
April 2, 2025
Terrible audiobook. Monotone narrator could not finish it. So dry
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews