Imagine for a moment that Americans came together to do something about global warming. Imagine small and large groups gathering in our community centers, places of worship and town halls to speak their minds and hearts about the global crisis facing us, and taking action to turn it around. Imagine them being given the tools they need to reduce their own carbon footprints and the strategies to empower their communities to do the same. Imagine communities across the country engaged in a campaign … household by household to reduce their carbon footprints 20% by 2010.

Now imagine that your community is part of it!

2008 promises to go down in history as the year that America leapt into action on global warming. There is an unprecedented readiness amongst individuals to take personal action on the issue of global warming. A recent Yale University study of 1,000 adults indicated that 75% of Americans recognize that their own behavior can help reduce global warming, and 81% believe it is their responsibility to do something about it. Our scientists tell us that we must act now, that we have a very small window before we achieve an irreversible tipping point that will change the planet as we know it – ten years at most.

With a real ticking clock, substantive and timely change needs to come from both the top down and bottom up simultaneously. Our daily lifestyles represent half of America’s carbon footprint and our purchases influence the other half. Households represent between 50% and 90% of a community’s carbon footprint. It is also the low-hanging fruit because we can make these changes immediately without waiting for major policy initiatives, new technologies or alternative energy sources to scale up. Further, engaging the citizens of a community builds demand for bold policy changes and the green products and services needed to sustain a climate change movement. How we live our lives is a major part of the problem and solution. To successfully tackle this issue at the community level, we need a new motto – city and citizen as partners.

We need to achieve measurable and timely carbon reduction at the residential level so that when the legislative process is finally in place, we have laid the groundwork for rapid change in our communities. If you will, we need to build the Mt. Everest base camp. Cool America is a grassroots campaign to build this base camp in communities across the nation. It is a call to substantive action now … community by community, household by household.

Mobilizing the grassroots…

To accomplish this aggressive and achievable goal we need to work smarter than we ever have before. We can not afford to waste or misuse the unprecedented political will and readiness for personal change that is available.

The tools are in place to help Americans make these personal changes. Empowerment Institute has developed, through 25 years of research, a proven behavior change and community empowerment methodology. It has helped over 250,000 people reduce their environmental footprint by 25% and trained dozens of communities to successfully implement this methodology. At the heart of this methodology is the acclaimed Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5,000 Pounds and the Cool Community campaign.

Cool Community Campaign Action Plan

A Cool Community campaign begins with a community gathering, called a Global Warming Café, to engage citizens in a conversation about climate change and then move them into personal and community action. The Global Warming Café, a proven social technology, engages people emotionally and builds community ownership for change. It can be initiated by a community group, local government, faith-based group or business. It works best when all sectors of the community work together. The campaign is built around four steps.

1. Host a Global Warming Café outreach event to seed EcoTeams and generate advocacy for a carbon reduction plan.
2. Advocate for a community carbon reduction goal of 20% by 2010.
3. Calculate your community carbon footprint.
4. Help your community roll out Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5,000 Pounds to achieve the carbon reduction goal. Keep score as the reductions add up to sustain momentum for change.