When 21 youth activists filed Juliana v. United States, they asserted that the government’s continued negligence of the environment constituted a violation of their rights to life, liberty, and property. In As the World Burns, Lee van der Voo follows the still-evolving legal case as she tells the plaintiffs’ stories, all against the backdrop of the current climate-related crises and the mass protests happening and around the world. Granted unparalleled access to the plaintiffs and their legal team, van der Voo reveals the human side of the climate crisis, the dire effects of decades of inaction, and the reasons why tackling our environmental issues in the courts is possibly our last real hope for meaningful intervention. This book is a call to arms for all of us, young and old alike.

Author Bio:

Lee van der Voo is an award-winning investigative and environmental journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Guardian, among others. Her 2016 book The Fish Market, which chronicles the gentrification of the sea in the name of sustainable seafood, won an Oregon Book Award for General Nonfiction.