

The plan may provide an antidote to male apathy: polls show fewer men are excited by the issue.

The "one million women" campaign, launched in Sydney yesterday, aims to get at least one in every eight Australian women to join an online program of weekly carbon cuts.

"We want to build on the unique strength of women, and we're urging all women to use their networks to actually do something about climate change," said the campaign's organiser, cosmetics entrepreneur Natalie Isaacs.

One hundred prominent women have agreed to be spokeswomen for the cause, including the Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, cook Margaret Fulton, sportswoman Nova Peris and the Federal Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek.

The Greens senator Christine Milne, who has joined the campaign, said the target of one million women was ambitious but possible. "The women of Australia have not been asked for a long time to join together for one cause, but I think there are a lot of baby boomer women in particular who remember the days of community activism," Senator Milne said.

It is notoriously difficult to measure the carbon footprint of household activities, but the organisers have had a stab at it, using government figures and carbon accounting models. They estimate simple changes, such as eating red meat one day less a week, would reduce a family's emissions by quarter of a tonne a year, and four-minute showers would save half a tonne.