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 21 young people came together to sue the federal government for violating their constitutional rights by promoting the climate catastrophe that has already begun to deprive them of life, liberty and property without due process of law. The path breaking litigation, Juliana v United States, has had more success in the courts than many expected, but the federal government has repeatedly delayed the case from getting to trial. The case is now pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Whatever its judicial outcome, the litigation has received a great deal of media attention and public acclaim. Youth activists now central to climate advocacy say that they were influenced by this early example of young people stepping up. Our Children's Trust (OCT), the group that has brought the children's climate lawsuit, has now authorized the author, Gus Speth, to proceed with publication of an updated, 2020 version of the Expert Report he prepared for the litigation in 2018. The original Speth report was prepared in his capacity as an expert in the subject. In the view of many who have seen it, the report is the most compelling indictment of federal climate action and inaction yet written"--