Lynton Keith Caldwell is an American scholar and environmentalist.  Currently the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science emeritus and Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, Caldwell is a major advocate of an environmental amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  He views environmental protection to be as much of the government's duty as is protection of freedom of speech.

Born in Montezuma, Iowa on November 21, 1913, Caldwell received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1935.  Three years later, he completed a Master of Arts from Harvard University.  He went on to receive a doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1943.

The same year that he attained his Master's degree, Caldwell was appointed Assistant Professor of Government at Indiana University.  Later, when he received his doctorate, Caldwell began his career as a writer.  The academic works that he published began in the field of administrative theory, shifted to government, and eventually evolved, by 1964, to environmental policy.  It was in this area that Caldwell became most widely recognized.  In 1964, in fact, the American Society for Public Administration honored him with the William E. Mossier Award for an article on environmental policy.

Caldwell has perhaps been most influential through his work in drafting, in 1969, the National Environmental Policy Act, called the NEPA.  In 1968, he served as a consultant for the U.S. Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and drafted a resolution on national environmental policy.  Much of this document was later incorporated in the NEPA itself.  Caldwell also played a part in the later shaping of this act, which he has continued to defend.  However, fearing that the environment will otherwise still remain marginal in politics, Caldwell has since gone further to urge that the United States actually amend its Constitution in order to protect the environment.

Caldwell has also devoted time to international environmental policy.  He has been an advisor to the Central Treaty Organization and has worked for this organization in countries throughout the world.