Climax thinking, place attachment, and utilitarian landscapes: Implications for wind energy development

As a means of understanding responses to landscape change, the concept of climax thinking proposes that communities resist changes because individuals view their current landscape as in its optimal state. We examined perceptions of past landscape change to help predict support for future change in the context of wind energy in the Chignecto area, Atlantic Canada. Change is this region includes a wind farm built in 2012 and the longer-term loss of four landscape features: dykes from the 1600s are being modified due to rising seas, foundries from the 1800s no longer exist, most giant hay barns from the 1800s have collapsed, and radio towers from WWII were dismantled. To assess local responses to these changes, we designed and randomly distributed a mail survey. The survey asked about exposure to turbines, support for wind energy, and demographics. Half the sample received images and descriptions of the four previous features, accompanied by questions about fit in the landscape and sadness at loss. These items were combined to create a climax thinking scale. Regression analysis reveals neither place attachment nor time in the region to be predictors of climax thinking, while male gender and conservative politics increase climax thinking. Conservatism decreases support for wind energy among people who can't see turbines from home and is not significant for people who can. Climax thinking increases wind support among people who can see them from home but is not significant for people who can't. Implications of results for renewable energy transitions are explored.