Green Zone Online

I’m not sure if any of you out there have heard, but this year is an election year. As citizens concerned with the health and well being of our planet (you are reading this green blog, aren’t you?), it makes sense to do a little research to find out how our votes this fall will impact issues such as climate change, energy usage, and the health of our bee hives (hat tip to MarinC).

There are a great deal of factors to consider when trying to vote green. Fortunately for us, we have a great deal of information at our fingertips, and there are organizations that have made it their sole mission to educate voters on the issues that are pertinent to the environment, and where specific candidates stand on them. One such organization is the League of Conservation Voters.

The League of Conservation tracks environmental legislation, and how political leaders vote on those issues. They assign politicians a score of 0-100%, 0% meaning the individual voted against the environment every time, 100% meaning they supported the environment with every vote. Absent votes are scored as anti-environmental. They also rate states by the average score of all of their federal representatives. This information is available on their scorecard.

The average score of Colorado’s representatives is right in the middle of the pack. Fortunately, voters in Colorado have an excellent opportunity to change that. This year, the Senate seat of Senator Wayne Allard (20% in 2007) is vacant, and Rep. Mark Udall (CO-4, 95% in 2007) is running to take his place. His opponent is Bob Schaeffer, former Rep from district 4. Schaeffer has the dubious distinction of being named on LCV’s “Dirty Dozen” list, a list of the worst environmental offenders running for congress. To quote LCV:

During his tenure in Congress, Bob Schaffer worked to get Big Oil $33 billion in tax breaks by supporting an energy bill written by Dick Cheney and the oil industry. After leaving the House, he went to work for Big Oil. Now he wants to return to Washington to work for them in the Senate…Coloradans deserve a senator who works for them, not Big Oil.

In Colorado, we have a choice between Schaeffer, a “Dirty Dozen” member, and Udall, who has never had a rating below 95% in any of his five terms. In terms of the environment, the contrast is as stark as could be.