League of Conservation Voters (LCV)
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1970 that focuses on promoting pro-environmental policies and electing political candidates who support such initiatives. Established by environmental leader David Brower in the wake of the first Earth Day, LCV emerged as a political entity distinct from Friends of the Earth to specifically address legislative actions related to environmental issues. The organization is known for its annual National Environmental Scorecard, which evaluates members of Congress based on their voting records on pertinent environmental legislation, thereby informing the public about their representatives' stances.
In addition to tracking Congressional votes, LCV also releases a Presidential Report Card and compiles the "Dirty Dozen" list, which highlights legislators who frequently oppose environmental protections and are up for reelection. The organization actively campaigns against these incumbents and endorses pro-environmental candidates, providing support through its LCV Action Fund. Beyond political advocacy, LCV established the LCV Education Fund in 1985 to assist grassroots organizations with training and resources for environmental education and outreach. Overall, LCV plays a significant role in shaping the political landscape regarding environmental conservation and public health in the U.S.
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League of Conservation Voters (LCV)
IDENTIFICATION: American nonprofit organization that promotes proenvironmental policies and works to elect political candidates who support such policies
DATE: Founded in 1970
The League of Conservation Voters has played an important role in influencing the voting public in the United States with its campaigns for or against candidates for national office based on those persons’ support or lack of support for environment-related legislation.
In 1969 environmental leader David Brower created the organization Friends of the Earth (FOE), which later grew to become one of the world’s largest networks of grassroots environmental organizations. In 1970, after the first Earth Day, Brower split off some of FOE’s staff in Washington, DC, to establish the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), an organization that would focus specifically on politics, tracking the actions of the US Senate and the House of Representatives and campaigning for proenvironmental candidates and issues. Early issues addressed by LCV included nuclear power, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and the protection of endangered species. By the twenty-first century, the group had expanded its range of concerns to include and clean energy.
Every year since 1970, LCV has issued its National Environmental Scorecard, which rates each member of Congress according to his or her voting record on bills concerning environmental, public health, and energy issues. The Scorecard reports on the results of Senate and House votes on certain bills and gives each member of Congress a percentage score. Representatives from approximately twenty environmental and conservation groups work together to identify which votes should be considered and to determine the percentage score for each member of Congress. Several states have their own branches of LCV, and these track members of their state legislatures in the same way. LCV also issues an annual Presidential Report Card, and during election campaigns it releases information about candidates’ environmental records.
Since 1996, LCV has released a list that it calls the Dirty Dozen during election years; this list identifies the twelve sitting members of Congress who have most consistently voted against environmental protection and who are up for reelection. In selecting the legislators who will appear on the list, LCV targets candidates in races that are projected to be close enough that an oppositional campaign could make a difference in the outcome; the organization then actively campaigns against these incumbents, emphasizing their environmental voting records. The candidates selected may be members of the Senate or of the House of Representatives and may belong to any political party, although most have been Republicans. LCV also endorses candidates who take strong proenvironmental stances and supports their campaigns with funding through its LCV Action Fund.
LCV set up the LCV Education Fund in 1985 to support environmental education efforts at the local, state, and national levels. The fund provides small grassroots environmental organizations with training, research assistance, and technology that they could not develop on their own; it also helps local organizations conduct opinion polls and run get-out-the-vote programs.
Bibliography
Duffy, Robert J. The Green Agenda in American Politics: New Strategies for the Twenty-first Century. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003.
Gibson, James William. A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a New Kinship with Nature. New York: Macmillan, 2009.
League of Conservation Voters. National Environmental Scorecard ’05. Washington, D.C.: Author, 2006.
"2023 National Environmental Scorecard: After the Hottest Year on Record, Which Members of Congress Voted to Protect the People from the Planet?" League of Conservation Voters, 28 Feb. 2024, www.lcv.org/blog/the-2023-national-environmental-scorecard-after-the-hottest-year-on-record-which-members-of-congress-voted-to-protect-people-and-the-planet/. Accessed 20 July 2024.