James Gustave Speth

James Gustave(Gus)Speth(born on March 4, 1942) is an Americanenvironmental lawyerand advocate who co-founded theNatural Resources Defense Council.

Gus Speth
Speth in 2008
Administrator of theUnited Nations Sustainable Development Group
In office 1993–1999
Secretary General	Boutros Boutros-Ghali Kofi Annan
Preceded by	William Henry Draper III
Succeeded by	Mark Malloch-Brown
Personal details
Born	(1942-03-04)March 4, 1942 Orangeburg, South Carolina,U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Yale University(BA,JD) Balliol College, Oxford(BLitt)

Early life and education

He was born inOrangeburg, South Carolinain 1942. He graduatedsumma cum laudefromYale Universityin 1964, attendedBalliol College, Oxfordas aRhodes Scholarand graduated fromYale Law School,where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall and theYale Law Journal,in 1969.

Career

In 1969 and 1970, Speth served as a law clerk toU.S. Supreme CourtJusticeHugo L. Black.He was a co-founder of theNatural Resources Defense Council,where he served as senior attorney from 1970 to 1977.

He served from 1977 to 1981 as a member and then for two years as chairman of theCouncil on Environmental Qualityin theExecutive Office of the President.As chair, he was a principal adviser on matters affecting the environment and had overall responsibility for developing and coordinating the President's environmental program. In 1981 and 1982, he was a professor of law atGeorgetown University Law Center,teachingenvironmentalandconstitutional law.

In 1982, he founded theWorld Resources Institute,aWashington, D.C.-based environmentalthink tank,and served as its president until January 1993. He was a senior adviser to President-electBill Clinton's transition team, heading the group that examined the U.S.'s role innatural resources,energyand the environment.

In 1991, he chaired a U.S. task force on international development and environmental security which produced the reportPartnership forSustainable Development:A New U.S. Agenda.

In 1990 he led the Western Hemisphere Dialogue on Environment and Development which produced the reportCompact for a New World.

From 1993 to 1999, he served as Administrator of theUnited Nations Development Programme;he served as special coordinator for economic and social affairs under Secretary-GeneralBoutros Boutros-Ghali,managed theUnited Nations Development Assistance Planand also served as chair of theUnited Nations Sustainable Development Group.

In 1999, he became the dean of theYale School of Forestry and Environmental StudiesatYale University,New Haven, Connecticut.He served the school as the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean and Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy when he retired from Yale in 2009 to assume a professorship atVermont Law SchoolinSouth Royalton, Vermont.Speth was succeeded as Dean at Yale by SirPeter Crane.

In 2014 he published his memoirAngels by the River.In that year, he was also board member of theNew Economy Coalition.

Speth currently serves on the advisory council ofRepresent.Us,anonpartisananti-corruption organization.

Speth has been a leader or participant in many task forces and committees aimed at combatingenvironmental degradation,including the President's Task Force on Global Resources and Environment; the Western Hemisphere Dialogue on Environment and Development; and the National Commission on the Environment.

Awards

Among his awards are theNational Wildlife Federation’s Resources Defense Award, the Natural Resources Council of America's Barbara Swain Award of Honor, a 1997 Special Recognition Award from theSociety for International Development,the Lifetime Achievement Award of theEnvironmental Law Institute,and theBlue Planet Prize.He holdshonorary degreesfromClark University,theCollege of the Atlantic,Vermont Law School,Middlebury College,and theUniversity of Massachusetts Boston.

Publications

Books

• Globalization and the Environment(as an editor),Island Press(2003)
• Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment(2004)
• Global Environmental Governance,Island Press (2006)
• The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability,Yale University Press(2008)ISBN978-0-300-13611-1
• America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy,Yale University Press(2012)ISBN978-0300180763
• Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril(chapter),Nelson, Michael P.and Kathleen Dean Moore (eds.) Trinity University Press, (2010)ISBN9781595340665
• Angels by the River, a memoir,Chelsea Green Publishing (2014)
• Imagine a Joyful Economy,with Peter Denton, Wood Lake Publishing Inc.(2020)ISBN978-1-77343-161-1
• They Knew: The US Federal Government's Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis,MIT Press(2021)ISBN9780262542982

Articles

• Beyond ReformOur Planet MagazinePDF
• America the Possible: A Manifesto,From decline to rebirthlink
• America the Possible: A Manifesto,A new politics for a new dreamlink

See also

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 1)

External links

• Angels by the River- book website
• AppearancesonC-SPAN
• James Gustave Speth home pageat theWayback Machine(archived July 1, 2007) Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies profile, Archived July 1, 2007
• Greenery and Justice for All- Jan 9, 2015, Pacific Standard interview
• “Focus 580; Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of Global Environment,”2004-06-29, WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 5, 2021.