It's cool to be green -- but are your elected officials?

Everyone says they're for the environment these days -- but among those who represent you in Washington, who votes like they talk?

The League of Conservation Voters, which has been rating lawmakers for years, now has a neat online tool for looking at the ratings of all members of Congress, both House and Senate. See how your elected officials rate here.

The map to the right shows the overall regional picture. Congress-folk in the coastal West and Northeast have the strongest environmental records; those in the South and Plains West have the worst.

Given that the regions with the worst environmental records are also the fastest-growing regions in the country -- and the regions with the fastest-growing political clout -- it would follow that these are the areas where national environmental groups should be targeting most of their political and organizing resources, if they want to be successful.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Labels: environment, environmental health, leave of conservation voters, Southern Politics