GREG POWELL, 02 NOV 2009

If you were to ask me, "are Albertans generally engaged on environmental issues?" I might give you a completely different answer from one day to the next.

On the surface, it's easy to characterize those who drive oversized pickup trucks around city streets (and have never hauled a bale of hay) as being apathetic and/or completely disengaged from the environmental realities we now face. It's easy to look at a low-density town where living car-free is nearly impossible and begin to think that people simply aren't concerned about health or the environment.

But if that pickup driver is in Okotoks, chances are she may have bought her vehicle at the car dealership with the smallest carbon footprint of any dealer in Canada. And if that car-dependent community is Cochrane today, I say come back in a few years once the sustainability plan takes flight and you may be surprised to find interconnected green spaces, a transit service and people-friendly travel corridors.

Jurisdictions outside of Alberta tend to think of us as a lost cause: "Forget about them", the others say, "they'll never get it." But the truth is that municipal Alberta is a place where things are happening. The men and women working on sustainability issues on the ground actually get it. They understand what a vibrant community looks like; they understand that a healthy community cannot exist in an unhealthy environment; they understand that the food that nourishes healthy children cannot be grown in perpetually drought-stricken fields.

Take Medicine Hat, for example. The Hat Smart program defines strategies for air quality, renewable energy, energy conservation, waste/recycling, water and land use. And these strategies aren't just lofty, unattainable goals. The Hat is putting its money where its mouth is. Interested in a solar water heater? No problem - Medicine Hat will pitch in $3,000 worth. Solar electric? $6,000. And if you're a business, consider half of your solar thermal costs covered.

How about Olds and the Municipal Area Partnership? Didsbury, Carstairs, Mountain View County, Sundre, Olds and Cremona join forces to advise the six participating councils on civic matters such as how to prevent dangerous climate change. A bright, energetic regional sustainability coordinator applies principles of The Natural Step to prove that thriving lifestyles don't have to harm the planet.

I've seen enough to know that Alberta is far from the greenest of provinces. I also know that Albertans exceed a sustainable carbon footprint several times over. But when I survey climate and sustainability initiatives around the province, I see a big change on the horizon. When the US administration refused to move on climate change, dozens of states took charge of their own carbon fate. Alberta municipalities are similarly calling their own shots for fostering a safe, healthy environment.

One tale is a legend that Albertans are apathetic about the environment. Another tale is that Alberta municipalities taking strong leadership on the environment. I've see the second tale to be true. As for the first tale, the one about a lack of citizen engagement? We'll soon see about that.