Ninety-one per cent of Canadians believe they should do their part to help fight global warming, even if they have to pay more to do it, two newly released polls suggest.

But they are less likely to expect their governments to shoulder responsibility for fixing environmental problems at 72 per cent, according to the two polls conducted by Ipsos-Reid for Sympatico/MSN.

"It might be about guilt," says Julie Langer, director of the global threats program for the World Wildlife Fund Canada. "We can't really ask others to do something we haven't done ourselves."

Langer was enlisted by MSN Canada to speak on the polls' results Wednesday.

Of all Canadians, Albertans, at 96 per cent, feel strongest that individuals need to take an active role in helping the environment, the poll suggests. However, they were also least likely, at 65 per cent, to believe the government should take responsibility for environment issues.

People in Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, meanwhile, are least likely to believe individuals need to take an active role in fighting global warming, the findings indicate.

'Squidge of doubt' about global warming

Despite the high percentage of Canadians who want to help reduce their impact on the environment, nearly one-quarter don't believe global warming is proven, they suggest.

"There's always that squidge of doubt," Langer says to explain the incongruity, but adds, "I don't think anybody's denying that energy efficiency or cleaning up the air is something that we shouldn't do."

Most people interviewed in the polls expressed willingness to cough up a bit of extra money to purchase environmentally friendly products.

About 90 per cent are willing to spend extra for energy-efficient light bulbs, a result Langer attributed to the widespread availability of them and the longer-term savings. Appliances also rated high, with 89 per cent willing to spend more on their next big purchases.

Seventy per cent say they're willing to pay more for environmentally friendly cleaning products, and 40 per cent say they're likely to buy a hybrid that runs on fossil fuel and electricity as a next car.

However, 61 per cent of those surveyed are willing to pay extra to avoid heavily packaged goods.

Langer says people seem to have connected the dots between environmental impact and the energy use of such products as appliances, which also help reduce energy bills.

"The dots get longer," she says when it comes to the effects of packaging.

The two Ipsos-Reid polls were conducted online and involved 1,000 adult Canadians. The margin of error of both surveys is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

MSN/Sympatico is a sponsor of the Live Earth concerts on Saturday that will feature some of the world's top musicians to raise awareness about global warming. The polls were commissioned as one of the latest efforts to promote the event and ways consumers can help slow climate change.