How to Vote for the Environment in the 2022 Midterm Elections

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If climate change and environmental conservation top your list of priorities this year (don’t forget, we need a healthy planet not only to play on, but also to, you know, live), then it is crucial that you head to the polls for the midterm elections. First, make sure that you’re registered to vote in your state. Next, read up on the candidates that are up for election in your area and their stance on environmental issues.

Below are some resources that can help you learn about the legislative issues that impact the health of the environment and find the right candidates for you.

Resources for Voting for the Environment in 2022

League of Conservation Voters

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Scorecard has been published since 1970 and includes a review of environmental legislation throughout each year alongside corresponding voting records of all members of Congress. The LCV Scorecard for 2021 can help you learn about legislation and how it impacts the environment as well as vet incumbent candidates for the 2022 election.

Sierra Club Endorsements

One of the Sierra Club’s missions is to “educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment.” One of the ways that they do this is through political endorsements. Through an examination of candidates’ environmental and public health records that starts at the local level, the Sierra Club selects congressional candidates to endorse for each election. Here are the Sierra Club 2022 Endorsements by state.

POW Action Fund Voter Guidebooks

The Protect Our Winters Action Fund has created voters guides for passionate outdoors people in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Utah — states where there are large clusters of outdoor enthusiasts with with congressional districts decided by less than 10 percent. The guidebooks give guidance for voters in these states based on a number of criteria, including candidates’ “acceptance of climate change as a real, human-caused problem, their willingness to engage in dialogue about climate action, their voting record on climate-related legislation (if available), their willingness to engage with POW AF, the extent to which climate is a priority in their campaign, leadership displayed on climate issues in general, and whether or not they have championed climate legislation.”

Climate Hawks

Climate Hawks is a Super PAC (a.k.a. Independent Expenditures Only Committees a.k.a. committee that cannot contribute directly to a political candidate) with a mission to “identify, train, and elect individual climate hawk leaders, while generating a political environment in which those leaders have the power to advance policies needed to address climate change.” Climate Hawks offers a 2022 Ballot Guide and 2022 endorsements, which go to candidates they they feel certain “will commit to strong climate action.”

Vote Climate U.S. PAC

Vote Climate is a PAC (public action committee) that is devoted to eliminating all human-made greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In their words, they work “to elect candidates who believe in getting off fossil fuels, transitioning to clean, renewable, energy and reducing carbon pollution by putting a fee on carbon, in order to slow climate change and related weather extremes.” On October 25, 2022 Vote Climate U.S. PAC will release their 2022 voters guide in which candidates are vetted based on criteria such as climate change position, voting record and stance on U.S. fees on carbon.

See you at the polls!