ABSTRACT

The League supports candidates based upon their environmental voting record. It has been called the political arm of the American environmental movement. The League of Conservation Voters 1980-1986 report on the energy and environment voting patterns of Congress provide a gauge of conservation voting. From the beginning of the study, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) had the highest average of support of conservation issues of any group surveyed. Pro-environmental votes were designated with a plus sign, while anti-environmental votes were denoted with a minus sign. The fear of using up the resources of the earth was the first rallying point for conservation-minded individuals. By the 1960s, however, conservationists had become concerned that using up the earth's resources was less of a problem than those same resources becoming unusable. The conservation voting pattern of the CBC indicates that it is qualified to lead in the role and to take its rightful place in the history of conservation in the twenty-first century.