Climate Change Attitudes and Fossil Fuel Extraction and Distribution in Canada.

This article examines Canadian public opinion on five supply-side fossil fuel energy policies—expanding the oil sands, drilling for oil in the Arctic, fracking, expanding an oil pipeline (Energy East), and shipping oil by rail—using social psychological models to identify factors influencing support or opposition. The study finds that an ecological worldview, measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, is a strong predictor of opposition to these policies, while specific climate change attitudes (such as belief in human-caused climate change or worry about it) are generally not significant predictors. Regional residence and political orientation significantly affect policy support, reflecting the influence of framing by political parties, industry, and social movement organizations. The findings suggest a disconnect in Canada between concern for climate change and support for fossil fuel extraction and distribution policies, with environmental impacts being more salient to the public than climate change implications.