Tens of thousands of US households have joined local Cool Community campaigns following a step-by-step, low-carbon plan to cut carbon emissions by 25 per cent.

As glaciers melt and sea levels rise, world governments remain in gridlock over climate change. Renewable energy and new technologies will take decades longer to scale up than scientists say we have time to control climate change. But for social entrepreneur, David Gershon, the immediate solution for cutting America's goliath footprint is simple. Start at home.

'The United States is responsible for 20 per cent of total global emissions, and approximately 50 per cent of America's carbon footprint is residential,' said Gershon, founder and CEO of the Empowerment Institute.

He continued: 'If, as US households, we were able to reduce our carbon footprint by 25 per cent and take this to community scale and then nationwide, we could significantly lower America's carbon emissions in the short run and buy us the critically needed time for the longer-term solutions to scale up.'

Inspired by Gershon's 2006 book Low Carbon Diet: A 30-Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, carbon-conscious communities are doing just that. No longer waiting for government to enforce the issue, communities across the US are taking direct action at the local level to trim tonnes off their carbon footprint.  Early results from the campaign's pilot programmes are promising with households cutting their emissions by up to 35 per cent in a matter of months.

Cool Portland, the campaign's first pilot programme, more than doubled its goal of cutting carbon emissions by ten per cent per household, realising an average reduction of 22 per cent, or 6,700 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Even major corporations such as Nike are using the programme to mobilise employees to participate in Low Carbon Diet EcoTeams and then encourage their communities to do the same as part of a companion Cool Corporate Citizen initiative.

To date the Empowerment Institute has given free Cool Community tele-training to 650 people representing over 300 cities and towns from 36 states, as well as communicating the carbon cutting message to people internationally, in countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan.

'By engaging the citizens of a community to lower their carbon footprint we are stimulating demand for the green products and services needed to grow a local, low-carbon economy,' said Gershon 'And as we aggregate these low-carbon economies nationally, we see the path forward toward the green US economy on which the country is pinning its future. Moreover, this will send a message to the world that as Americans we are reducing our high carbon-emitting lifestyles for the sake of the planet, which will help encourage other countries such as China and India to up their ante.'