Decarbonizing the global economy is essential to reducing the effects of climate change, however doing so jeopardizes many communities economically dependent on fossil fuel extraction. A small but growing body of literature has begun to examine how individuals who live in fossil fuel-dependent (FFD) communities perceive decarbonization and renewable energy transitions, with the goal of understanding if and how these frequently oppositional communities can be included in broad scale energy transitions without creating new economic sacrifice zones. The present study expands environmental psychology’s contribution to this field of research by exploring the possible inclusion of a novel to FFD community literature: the metallurgical coal mining communities of British Columbia’s Elk Valley. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Elk Valley community members. Findings indicate that Elk Valley coal communities are distinct from other FFD communities described in current literature by being receptive to renewable energy transitions and disputing metallurgical coal’s status as a fossil fuel. Nonetheless, many psychological constructs similar to described FFD communities are present in the Elk Valley as well, including coal’s central status in legitimizing and resistance identity formation, perceived outgroup threats by environmentalists, and an inability to imagine a post-mining future. This paper concludes with recommendations on how British Columbia should address its mining dependent communities as it pursues decarbonization in light of these findings. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/14182 |
| Date | 02 September 2022 |
| Creators | Odland, Severin |
| Contributors | Gifford, Robert |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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