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The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American organization with an independent political voice that lobbies on behalf of the environment. The LCV is the political voice of the national environmental movement and the only organization devoted full-time to shaping a pro-environment Congress and White House. The LCV was created in 1970 as a result of the second wave of U.S. environmentalism that emerged out of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. The organization focuses its efforts on influencing politics as they relate to the environment in the United States. Marion Edey, then a U.S. congressional staff aide, and David Ross Brower, the executive director of the Sierra Club from 1952-69, and then founder of the Friends of the Earth in 1969, created the LCV. Edey sought to create an organization that could act as the electoral wing of the environmental movement in the United States. Together, Edey, Brower, and a directorate made up mainly of members of Brower’s Friends of the Earth organized the LCV.
The LCV’s mission is to advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt and implement such policies. The LCV campaigns to defeat antienvironment candidates, and supports those leaders who stand up for a clean, healthy future for America. To assist voters in selecting pro-environmental candidates, the LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which gives ratings to all congressional members in terms of their voting records on key environmental and public health issues. These issues include energy, biodiversity, public health, environmental funding, and other priority votes (such as free trade and population policy).
The LCV also produces the Presidential Report Card, and with these publications the league holds Congress and the administration accountable for their actions on the environment while preventing antienvironment candidates from masking their records with pro-environment rhetoric. The LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard and the Presidential Report Card are the authoritative record of how members of Congress and the administration handle the most important environmental issues.
In addition to tracking voting records and endorsing or opposing candidates, the group contributes to and participates in political and electoral campaigns. The LCV campaigns have been successful, defeating 23 out of 37 antienvironmental candidates targeted by their “Dirty Dozen” campaigns since 1996. The LCV has helped hundreds of environmental leaders to victory, both on Capitol Hill and at the ballot box. Also, since 1996 over 80 percent of LCV endorsed candidates have won their respective elections. Through regional offices, the LCV builds coalitions, promotes grassroots power, and trains environmental leaders. The League Family of Organizations includes the LCV Action Fund, the LCV Accountability Project, and the LCV Education Fund.
Bibliography:
- Ryan Carey, “League of Conservation Voters,” in Encyclopedia of World Environmental History (Routledge, 2003);
- Marion Edey, Sierra Club Bulletin (v.60/3, 1975);
- John Tibbetts, Environmental Health Perspectives (v.105/4, 1997).
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