The Clean Earth Challenge

The Clean Earth Challenge (CEC), created by Johnson Outdoors in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, is a global, participation-driven movement that transformed eco-anxiety into visible, collective action. Designed in response to declining engagement and rising climate-related stress, especially among younger audiences, the Challenge reframed environmental stewardship from overwhelming to achievable through the simple, repeatable act of picking up litter.

What began as a goal to remove one million pieces of trash evolved into a scalable public movement, fueled by decentralized leadership, real-time impact tracking, and community storytelling. During the eligibility period, CEC mobilized employees, youth networks, schools, and partner organizations across ecosystems and geographies, activating cleanups through national moments like Earth Month and sustained year-round participation. Johnson Outdoors employees served as “Challenge Champions,” anchoring credibility and sparking grassroots momentum worldwide. The program made action visible, shareable, and contagious. A live global counter, social-first storytelling, and local media coverage turned individual cleanups into proof points of progress, while partnerships extended reach and relevance far beyond owned channels. Research by the Children & Nature Network informed the design, showing that small, repeatable actions foster empathy, agency, and long-term behavior change. By pairing purpose with participation and storytelling with measurable outcomes, the Clean Earth Challenge demonstrates how strategic communications can build trust, mobilize communities, and turn concern into constructive action at scale.