Albany, NY - A statewide effort seeks to turn off unnecessary lights, turn down thermostats and turn up awareness to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in New York by 10 percent. 

"It's the kind of thing people can rally behind, and say, `I can take responsibility,"' said Jeff Jones of Environmental Advocates of New York. 

The campaign, to be called "The 10-Percent Challenge," was hatched last week in the Cool New York Global Warming Summit held in Albany with more than 100 activists, teachers and environmental group staffers. 

The campaign has no funding for advertising, but instead will rely on grassroots actions at civic meetings and delegations sent to businesses, government buildings and neighborhood groups. 

A year ago, a Time-CNN poll found two-thirds of Americans said President Bush should develop a plan to reduce the emission of gases like carbon dioxide that have been blamed for causing global temperature increases. Three-fourths of Americans said they considered global warming a serious problem. 

In June, the National Academy of Sciences concluded global warming is real and getting worse. 

The 10-Percent Challenge is aimed at giving individuals who feel helpless in swaying federal policy a way to act. An additional incentive will be the savings in power bills, organizers said. 

"It sounded like the kind of concrete program a congregation could participate in," said Janet Allen, environmental justice coordinator for the 400-church North Central New York Conference of the United Methodist Church based in Syracuse. "It would be easy to convey the concept to other churches." 

The effort is based on Vermont's 10-Percent Challenge. As with the Vermont model, New York's effort will seek participants through a Web site. The effort began two years ago and has a goal of reducing so- called greenhouse gases by 10 percent in 2010. 

The Vermont Web site (http://www.10percentchallenge.org) asks several questions, from how many miles are driven each day to typical heating and electricity bills. It then calculates the carbon dioxide emissions for a business or household. The total for a household can easily exceed 26,400 pounds a year. 

The Web site then offers ways to reduce pollution, including walking, biking and driving slower. The reduction is then calculated into pounds of emissions avoided. The interactive site allows for family and business logs that can be updated. 

"I think people need a goal to hang onto to make action happen on something that everyone has been thinking about for some time," said Edna Sussman of the Federated Conservationists of Westchester County. "I think it will take off. I think the climate is right now." 

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 On the Web: Environmental Advocates http://www.eany.org