They Knew: The US Federal Government's Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis

by James Gustave Speth, Julia Olson, Philip Gregory Narrated by Al Kessel

Overview

In 2015, a group of twenty-one young people sued the federal government for violating their constitutional rights by promoting the climate catastrophe, depriving them of life, liberty, and property without due process of law. They Knew offers evidence for their claims, presenting a devastating, play-by-play account of the federal government's role in bringing about today's climate crisis. James Speth, tapped by the plaintiffs as an expert on climate, documents how administrations from Carter to Trump-despite having information about climate change 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 do and what did it not do? They Knew (an updated version of the Expert Report Speth prepared for the lawsuit) presents the most compelling indictment yet of the government's role in the climate crisis, showing a forty-year failure to take action.

Since Juliana v. United States was filed, the federal government has repeatedly delayed the case. Yet even in legal limbo, it has helped inspire a generation of youthful climate activists.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A rousing condemnation of a system bent on short-term gain against long-term health."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Drawing on first-hand knowledge from his time as chair of the US Council on Environmental Quality during the administration of president Jimmy Carter (1977–81), and his founding role in several major environmental non-governmental organizations, Speth gives a clear and concise account of the scientific evidence available to successive US presidents and Congresses over five decades. He provides a chilling description of the gulf between the safer course of action recommended by scientists and advisers, and the reality of federal policy."
—Nature

"Working pro bono [for Juliana v. United States], Speth produced a lengthy report tracing nearly 60 years of federal action on climate change and fossil fuel development. That report is the foundation for this book. Parts of the story have been told before... but Speth's volume covers a broader period of time, says more about federal encouragement of fossil fuels, and as befits a legal filing, is richly documented."
—Science

"The road to climate hell has long been paved with deniability. While climate scientists over the past half century have amassed evidence that the use of fossil fuels is bringing about environmental disaster, US presidents and congresses have been steadfast in looking the other way. The publication of this well-researched, damning examination and indictment of federal policies will make it impossible to assert ignorance ever again.”
—Yale Alumni Magazine

"They Knew is a must-read, because this book is not so much ‘history’ as it is a window into the present, in which the pressures from the fossil fuel industry and the processes of government collide. The more we can see what they knew then, the greater the possibility that we can contend with what we know now."
—YES! Magazine

"Gus Speth’s new book is an enlightening and infuriating academic masterpiece, a detailed history of the US federal actions and inactions on climate change, a biting indictment and fascinating read."
—Udo E. Simonis, Journal of Environmental Law and Policy

Kirkus Reviews

2021-06-01
A real-life legal document that, absent the requisite love story, could be a James Grisham whodunit.

Acting as an expert witness, former government official Speth provides a background chronicle for the constitutional case called Juliana v. United States (2015), which “is no ordinary lawsuit.” The case holds that the government has known since at least the early 1960s that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide causes climate change. In almost every administration, environmental scientists and federal officials have issued relevant reports, and Congress has mulled over them, so that any protestation of ignorance (no excuse in any event) is simply not true. Moreover, in Juliana, the plaintiffs are young people who “are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.” Some children mentioned in the case live in places such as Hawaii, where storm patterns are intensifying in strength; some have had to abandon their homes in low-lying coastal areas in the face of rising sea levels. Speth, who co-founded the National Resources Defense Council, convincingly establishes that the government knew long in advance that these eventualities were likely to occur: He recounts that Daniel Patrick Moynihan told Richard Nixon in 1969 that the trends in rising temperatures were likely to raise sea levels by 10 feet. Wedded to the fossil-fuel economy, however, several administrations simply tucked the reports into a desk drawer. Others, particularly the one headed by Donald Trump, seemingly took delight in contravening any efforts at conservation and instead opened federal lands to further extraction. Ronald Reagan’s government essentially did the same while George H.W. Bush, despite talking a good game, helped weaken international conventions so that they contained no binding targets. Not surprisingly, Barack Obama “did more than any other president to address [climate change].” Though the case was dismissed in 2020, the Juliana argument is convincing, and even if an appeal is denied, it makes for eye-opening reading.

A rousing condemnation of a system bent on short-term gain against long-term health.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178632420
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	05/31/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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