Formation | 1995 |
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Type | 501(c)(3) |
Purpose | Conservative environmental advocacy |
Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
Region | United States |
President | Jeff Kupfer |
Vice President | Todd Johnston |
Website | conservamerica |
Formerly called | Republicans for Environmental Protection |
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in the United States |
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ConservAmerica, formerly known as Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), is a national nonprofit organization formed in 1995. REP's stated purpose is to strengthen the Republican Party's stance on environmental issues and support efforts to conserve natural resources and protect human and environmental health. Incorporated in Illinois, its headquarters are in Sturgis, Michigan.
On March 30, 2012, REP President Rob Sisson and Chairwoman Tina Beattie announced that the organization would be changing its name to ConservAmerica. [1] ConservAmerica had been the name of REP's sister 501(c)(3) organization; that nonprofit is now called the Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship. [2]
REP was founded in 1995 [3] by three women, Martha Marks, who at the time was a member of the Lake County, Illinois, Board of County Commissioners; Kim O'Keefe-Wilkins; and Aurie Kryzuda. They met at an endangered species conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland. As lifelong Republicans, they were concerned that the new Republican majority in the 104th Congress was seeking to weaken the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws.
In April 2012, ConservAmerica became a separate organization from REP led by Rob Sisson. The new group named itself "ConservAmerica", a name that it said represented "the inherent connection between conservation and conservatism".
"ConservAmerica's mission is to educate the public and elected officials on conservative approaches to today's environmental, energy, and conservation challenges."
ConservAmerica's slogan, "Conservation is Conservative," is based on the traditional conservative philosophy of writers and thinkers such as British statesman Edmund Burke, President Theodore Roosevelt, and authors Russell Kirk, author of The Conservative Mind , and Richard Weaver, author of Ideas Have Consequences. ConservAmerica argues in its literature that conservation and responsible environmental stewardship are core conservative values that necessarily extend from concepts such as prudence, personal responsibility, thrift and Burke's view that society is a partnership among past, present and future generations.
ConservAmerica cites the conservation achievements of Republican leaders, including Abraham Lincoln's initial protection of Yosemite Valley and pioneering conservationist president, Theodore Roosevelt's establishment of national forests, monuments, parks, and wildlife refuges. Other Republican leaders often cited by REP for their conservation records include Presidents Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, Senators Barry Goldwater, John Chafee, William Roth and John McCain, Congressman John Saylor, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
ConservAmerica advocates for conservation and environmental protection on a wide variety of environment and energy-related issues. The organization favors retention of environmental laws that were adopted with bipartisan support, such as the Wilderness Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. [4]
Since 2018, ConservAmerica has focused on advocating for market-oriented approaches to addressing energy and climate issues. [5] ConservAmerica advocates for reduced U.S. dependence on oil and other fossil fuels through more energy efficiency, and more use of renewable and nuclear energy. ConservAmerica's environmental policy positions are covered in the organization's website under the Issues tab and detailed in a variety of ConservAmerica policy papers.
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ConservAmerica endorses Republican candidates that the organization believes generally share its positions on environmental issues. As REP, the organization made endorsements in 2006, 2008, and 2010.
In 2000 and in 2008, REP endorsed Senator John McCain for president. REP advised the McCain campaign on climate change mitigation. REP did not endorse George W. Bush in 2000 or 2004, and publicly opposed the 2001 nomination of Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior.
REP has an affiliated political action committee called REP PAC and an independent 527 group called the REP Conservation Fund. Both work to elect or defend Republicans who have what REP calls strong environmental credentials.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environment candidates." The organization pursues its goals through voter education, voter mobilization, and direct contributions to political candidates. LCV includes 29 state affiliates. LCV was founded in 1970 by environmentalist Marion Edey, with support from David Brower. The group's current president is Gene Karpinski. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has over two million members.
John E. Peterson is an American Republican politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. From 1997 to 2009, he represented the state's mainly rural and largely Republican 5th Congressional district in the U.S. House.
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Leonard John Lance is an American politician and attorney who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 7th congressional district, from 2009 to 2019. He ran for re-election in 2018, but was defeated by Democrat Tom Malinowski. He is a member of the Republican Party who previously served in the New Jersey Senate from 2002 to 2009 and the New Jersey General Assembly from 1991 to 2002.
Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, maintenance of biodiversity, the management of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species. For example, concerning environmental policy, the implementation of an eco-energy-oriented policy at a global level to address the issues of global warming and climate changes could be addressed. Policies concerning energy or regulation of toxic substances including pesticides and many types of industrial waste are part of the topic of environmental policy. This policy can be deliberately taken to influence human activities and thereby prevent undesirable effects on the biophysical environment and natural resources, as well as to make sure that changes in the environment do not have unacceptable effects on humans.
William Kane Reilly was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush. He has served as president of World Wildlife Fund, as a founder or advisor to several business ventures, and on many boards of directors. In 2010, he was appointed by President Barack Obama co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ceres is a non-profit sustainability advocacy organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, and founded in 1989.
The Climate Stewardship Acts are a series of three acts introduced to the United States Senate by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), with a number of other co-sponsors. Their aim was to introduce a mandatory cap and trade system for greenhouse gases, as a response to the threat of anthropogenic climate change. All three acts failed to gain enough votes to pass through the senate.
The Alliance to Save Energy is a bipartisan, nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental, and consumer groups based in Washington, D.C. The Alliance states that it advocates for "energy-efficiency policies that minimize costs to society and individual consumers, and that lessen greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the global climate." The Alliance's chief activities include public relations, research, and lobbying to change U.S. energy policy.
Christian views on environmentalism vary among different Christians and Christian denominations.
Scott Harvey Peters is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative from California's 50th congressional district since 2023, previously representing the 52nd congressional district from 2013 to 2023. His district includes both coastal and central portions of San Diego, as well as the suburbs of Poway and Coronado.
Green conservatism is a combination of conservatism with environmentalism. Environmental concern has been voiced by both conservative politicians and philosophers throughout the history of modern conservatism. The philosophical founder of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), quoted as saying: "The earth, the kind and equal mother of all ought not to be monopolised to foster the pride and luxury of any men."
A Contract with the Earth is a book by Newt Gingrich and Terry L. Maple, with a foreword by E. O. Wilson. Its title is derived from a 10-point "contract" the authors put forward in the book.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress that would have established a variant of an emissions trading plan similar to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009, by a vote of 219–212. With no prospect of overcoming a threatened Republican filibuster, the bill was never brought to the floor of the Senate for discussion or a vote. The House passage of the bill was the "first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change."
The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China, and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. In total, the United States has emitted over 400 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses, more than any country in the world.
Environment America is a federation of state-based environmental advocacy organizations in the United States. The organization researches and advocates for environmental policies through lobbying, litigation, and the mobilization of public support. Environment America advocates new laws and policies to address climate change, air pollution and water pollution, and is a proponent of clean energy, while opposing offshore drilling.
The platform of the Republican Party of the United States is generally based on American conservatism, contrasting with the modern liberalism of the Democratic Party. The positions of the Republican Party have evolved over time. Currently, the party's fiscal conservatism includes support for lower taxes, small government conservatism, free market capitalism, free trade, deregulation of corporations, and restrictions on labor unions. The party's social conservatism includes support for gun rights outlined in the Second Amendment, the death penalty, and other traditional values, often with a Christian foundation, including restrictions on abortion. In foreign policy, Republicans usually favor increased military spending, strong national defense, and unilateral action. Other Republican positions include restrictions on immigration, more specifically opposition to illegal immigration, opposition to drug legalization, pornography and affirmative action, and support for school choice and school prayer.
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