Hong Kong gets its own Earth Hour

Hong Kong - Friends of the Earth will launch its own version of the WWF's hugely successful Earth Hour, asking consumers to switch off their lights for one hour in late June.

Called "Dim It. 6.21 Lights Out", the initiative has already garnered corporate support from 20 organisations in Hong Kong including HSBC, Zurich Insurance Group, Yahoo! Hang Seng Bank, Samsung, Epson, Olympus and Hitachi.

The initiative encourages local residents to switch off their lights on 21 June for one hour.

Other cities to join the project include Beijing, Guangzhou, Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan as well as Taiwan and Japan.

A series of activities will be launched in the coming week by Friends of the Earth, starting with a Dim it photo exhibition, online activities and a heavy PR campaign.,

Friends of the Earth is organising the communications for this project in-house.

Hahn Chu, environmental affairs manager at Friends of the Earth, said Dim It. 6.21 Lights Out was "Asia's version" of WWF's Earth Hour, an initiative developed by Leo Burnett Sydney that also asks people to switch off their lights for one hour.