All eyes are on South Africa at the opening of the 2010 World Cup. I learned about a cool project, Barefootball, that taps into the local and international passion for soccer while also promoting economic empowerment and environmental sustainability in South Africa.

So what is a “Barefootball”?

It starts with ingenuity: Across Africa, children and young adults who can’t afford a soccer ball simply make their own using available materials. Athol Moult is a South African artist who captured historic images of children playing soccer using these traditional, hand-made soccer balls. These images gave him the inspiration for the Barefootball project as a way to create financial opportunities for disadvantaged local communities while also reducing the amount of post-consumer waste in the environment.

Barefootballs traditionally have been crafted from a combination of recycled materials including  paper, vine, banana leaves, string, plastic and cloth. All profits made from the sale of Barefootballs will go back to the ball-makers—who usually support extended family members —and the local communities.

Johnson & Johnson (PTY) LTD in South Africa is a founding partner of the program. Laura Nel, Communication Manager at Johnson & Johnson (PTY) LTD explained that they wanted to celebrate the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in a way that would make a real difference to the lives of African people, through economic and environmental sustainability. Employees are also supporting the project by providing a portion of the post-consumer plastic material used to create Barefootballs.

To learn more, visit http://www.barefootball.com/.

It has been a busy day — not only did Johnson & Johnson hold its yearly shareholders meeting (check out my Twitter stream on it – oh, and Margaret Gurowitz’s post on the history of the meeting) — but today was also Earth Day. It so happens, to commemorate the day Rob Halper uploaded a short video on the health channel about some of the green initiatives at our corporate headquarters building in New Brunswick, which was recently awarded LEED Existing Buildings Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. This award recognizes performance in key areas like water and energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials used and wastes generated, and innovative design. Check it out:

From Tish Lascelle, Senior Director, Strategy and Assurance, Worldwide Environment, Health & Safety,
Johnson & Johnson

On Earth Day 2010, I’ll be thinking about the year 2015.

I work in an environmental and sustainability capacity for Johnson & Johnson, and during the past 12 months I’ve been stewarding the development of our next set of long-term sustainability goals: our Healthy Future 2015 goals.

When I was a kid I was inspired by Marie Curie. Learning about her was my first realization that women could be scientists – and, she did it in the early 1900’s! On top of that, she was cool because she discovered and named two elements, most notably radium – the early ‘glo’ in Day-Glo (yes, also a child of the 60’s). Madame Curie once said, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more.” Her words resonate with me today as I work with the team at Johnson & Johnson to understand more about our role in contributing to a healthier future. I believe our sustainability strategy is richer because we invite the views of our stakeholders.

Dialogue with external partners helps us to identify and understand emerging risks and opportunities in the sustainability space. To develop our Healthy Planet 2010 goals, we partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for their ideas about what kind of environmental goals we should have.

WWF thought that Johnson & Johnson could be a good ally in their work to conserve biodiversity and they pushed for us to have biodiversity and forest product goals. While acknowledging that we don’t have a large, direct impact on forests like a paper company or agricultural company, WWF knew that we had significant purchasing power which, applied thoughtfully, could make a difference in global forest management. With their help, we established a Forest Products Purchasing Guideline and this year, we are successfully wrapping up our goals to source office paper and paper packaging more sustainably. (You can read more about all of our goals and our progress in our Sustainability Report.)

In thinking about 2015 sustainability goals for Johnson & Johnson, the team I work with invited Practice Greenhealth (PGH) into the conversation. PGH is a community of health care organizations and professionals who are working to ‘green’ health care to improve the health of patients, staff and the environment. They are educating us and their members about leadership in green health care; we often bounce our ideas to green our products off them and they push us to consider product changes that frankly, could be difficult business decisions. See, this is the thing about stakeholder engagement – you have to be open to some discomfort because you may not always start out eye to eye. The payoff is good citizenship and better business strategy.

Our 2015 goals are still a work in progress, but “improving the environmental profile of our products” is very much in there. Later this year, we’ll be announcing all of our new goals. In the meantime, I hope you will share your perspectives with us as we continue to talk about what we can do to achieve a more sustainable future.

From Annette Russo, Manager, Communications and Training, WWEHS, Johnson & Johnson

Like twenty million other Americans, I was part of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. I heeded the call for a day of protest and education, and did a small thing to improve the environment. Looking back, I think my Earth Day experiences parallel the history of the day itself. As I eventually became a consultant and groundwater geologist, I understood the reasons for the growing number of environmental regulations. I became part of a growing cadre of environmental professionals trained to address environmental compliance and remediation. We learned to use environmental management systems as a tool for better environmental management.

And today, people take a holistic view of the environment – looking at the products companies make as well as the places where they make them while considering social and economic impacts alongside environmental ones. Many call this “sustainability”, and it has changed the way business gets done. 

It’s Earth Day 1970…I’m standing waist deep in a cold, spring-fed creek in my hometown pushing a wire box filled with heavy rock down into the mud of the creek bed. We’re trying to save the creek. The city moved it a few months earlier to build a new road, leaving a bed that was wide and shallow. Our wire boxes force the water to the center of the bed, deepening it, lowering the water temperature, and hopefully, saving the native trout.

Earth Day 1975…I’m standing with my class on a hillside overlooking what can only be described as a barren moonscape on the opposite ridge. Its cause is apparent in the valley below – plumes of grayish smoke from a zinc smelting facility. Our teacher is telling us that nothing has grown or can grow on the ridge – all because of the zinc in the smoke. 

Earth Day 1985…I’m collecting soil samples at a chemical plant near my home. The soil is contaminated with DDT, a pesticide banned in 1972, but made at the plant in the 1940s. The samples smell like ant killer, and we still haven’t found where the contamination ends. 

Earth Day 1990…I’m spending a week at a plant on the US/Mexican border where the first compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are being made. Environmental regulations are new in the border zone, and my company wants to be an environmental leader there. At the same time, we’re hoping that the CFLs will catch on. We know that they last longer and save energy, but we’re not sure that consumers will like the light quality and their twisty shape.

Earth Day 1995…I’m in my yard planting a Dawn Redwood to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of Earth Day. The redwood is 4 feet tall and a bit spindly, but I think it’s beautiful.

Earth Day 2010…I’m working on sustainability both here at J&J and in my personal life. The Dawn Redwood that I planted in my yard 15 years ago is now over 70 feet tall and has a beautiful, sculptural trunk about 3 feet wide. The CFLs that my then employer hoped would catch on in 1990 are now recognized as one of the lowest environmental impact lighting options. The soil cleanup that I worked on at the chemical plant was completed in the 1990s, but groundwater testing still continues. The moonscape hillside I saw in 1975 became a Superfund site in 1983, along with the entire town that surrounded the zinc smelter. It is still being remediated in 2010. And finally, the creek that I helped to save in 1970 is a deep, clear stream. Based on what I saw in the fishermen’s baskets on opening day last week, the trout are doing just fine.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world will be participating in Earth Hour 2010 on Saturday, March 27^th at 8:30pm local time by turning off the lights for one hour. Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is meant to bring awareness to the issue of climate change and encourage people to make steps towards a sustainable future.

I learned that our world headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey is once again participating in Earth Hour by turning off all non-essential lighting. In 1999, Johnson & Johnson became a founding member of WWF Climate Savers and committed to reduce CO2 emissions from facilities worldwide by 7%, in absolute terms, by 2010, compared to 1990. You can find out more about the company’s environmental goals and performance here.

Since finding out about Earth Hour, I’ve been thinking about my own energy consumption. At my house, we have solar panels which supplement our heating system and use compact fluorescent light bulbs in our lighting fixtures. Since I tend to be online and plugged in during most of my waking hours, I know there is much more that I can do to reduce my own energy use. I am committed to turning off the lights, and my laptop, on Saturday night and plan to sit outside on my back porch to enjoy the darkness.

From Mark Krajnak, Manager, Corporate Communication, Johnson & Johnson

Around the world, the scarcity of water is increasing. This is especially evident in India, where a few months ago I had the opportunity to visit a Johnson & Johnson Consumer manufacturing facility located in Baddi, in the Himachal Pradesh region of India, nearly at the base of the Himalaya Mountains. While there, I got the chance to meet one of my colleagues, Achal Gupta, who is Manager of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) at the facility.

One of the stories in the Johnson & Johnson 2009 Annual Report focuses on Achal, and what he and his colleagues are doing to help conserve water in the region. Achal and the rest of the team work hard at harvesting rain water and runoff from the mountains. The facility also sees to it that every drop of treated water is reused for actions like irrigation and toilet flushing. Their water conservation efforts also extend beyond this facility, as the team collaborates with other companies in the region to share best practices.

It was one thing to hear about what the facility was doing and to see the goals and successes in a Power Point presentation. What I wasn’t prepared for was just how passionate Achal and others were when I spoke to them. I doubt I’ll ever forget speaking with Achal as he led me to a mountain stream where we were going to shoot some photos, and the reverence in this voice when he talked about their water conservation efforts.  He told me that their goal was to figure out how to harvest all the water that fell during the monsoon season, and then what to do with the water as the snow melted off the Himalayas. Then he said something that really surprised me: “The sound of water is like music. You just have to listen to it.”

As a way to illustrate the water conservation story that we were working on for the annual report story, I asked him if he would mind rolling up his pant legs and getting into the stream for the photo. “Oh sure,” he said. “Not a problem.  I do this every chance I get.”

“What do you mean,” I asked.

“Water revitalizes the body. It’s peaceful. It’s very important in Indian culture and being in it helps us to become closer to this earth. When I’m standing in the water, I feel my stress leave my body. I feel good,” he said.

As he was talking he was already stepping into the lake. There was a shepherd woman and her cows nearby.

“You should join me,” Achal said.

I felt honored by that. So I sat down on a rock, removed my boots and my socks, rolled up my pants legs and stepped in. It was about 97 degrees that day and the water felt cool and crisp.

But more so, Achal was right. I did feel better. I did stop to listen. And it made me realize that water is one natural resource that we really can’t live without.

Click here to view Achal’s story.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (called COP15) is well underway in Copenhagen. We are a member of three leading climate partner groups attending COP15: World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers, The Climate Group and the United States Climate Action Program (USCAP) and are engaged with them in conversations at the conference. Cécile Astuguevieille from our EU-based Government Affairs and Policy group shares her impressions of the business summit:

The great engagement of the business into climate change policies highlighted the first day of meetings attended by Johnson & Johnson in Copenhagen. The Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change gathered business leaders from the construction, media, insurance sectors and the signatories of the Copenhagen Communiqué (which Johnson & Johnson endorsed) to debate on the low carbon economy and the policy priorities post Copenhagen. The companies reported on the various energy efficiency initiatives they have launched and on the use of renewable energy to significantly reduce their global GHG emissions.  The transition towards a low carbon economy is considered a challenge but also a great opportunity for the businesses to foster innovation and competitiveness.  It was also mentioned that complementary initiatives, such as taxation of energy, should be taken in addition to the cap-and–trade system for more effective climate change policies. A recurring theme of the debate was that very few barriers to the transition towards a low carbon economy remain, apart from the political will.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Climate Business Day was organized by the WWF Climate Savers group of companies (Johnson & Johnson is a member of Climate Savers). The debate focused on the engagement of financial and insurance sectors, both of which consider CO2 regulations a growing opportunity for investments. Climate change regulations could transform CO2 into a new global currency which will imply new potential for investment in innovative sectors. It was, however, emphasized that such incentives to innovation will be effective only if the global carbon market is built on clear rules that companies can rely on.

The important presence and visibility of companies from diverse sectors in Copenhagen and during the coming week confirm the transition towards a low carbon economy as the current biggest challenge that business is already engaged in. Also, everyone’s uncertainty regarding the outcome of the Summit appeared quite clearly today, and business hopes that a strong and binding agreement will be concluded on December 18^th.

By Annette Russo, Manager, Communications and Training, Worldwide Environment, Health and Safety

If you read a newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch television, you’ve heard the word “sustainability”. It’s a business buzzword now, on the order of “total quality,” “just in time,” “six sigma” and “ISO.”

Yet while companies are starting to talk more about what they are doing to reduce their impact on the environment and be more active in their communities, you may be asking yourself – “what does this all mean for me?”

Well, many companies (Johnson & Johnson included) are starting to come up with an answer to this question. At my company, we’ve put together something called a “personal sustainability program,” or PSP to help employees understand what sustainability means – and how they can apply it to their lives. The concept was pioneered by Wal-Mart in partnership with Act Now .

Wal-Mart’s program, focused on environmental and health issues, involved training PSP leaders, who returned to their stores, trained other interested employees, and then lead PSP efforts at their stores. Each PSP participant pledged to change an environmental or health aspect of their personal life, and when that change was made, they were recognized.

Wal-Mart believes that this program has had many benefits – and they cite carbon dioxide reductions and improved health for their employees. One dividend, however, that is rather difficult to measure is that through this program they have unlocked employee creativity – to develop solutions that were then applied to the business. In a famous example, a PSP participant turned off lighting in soft drink machines in the employee lounge, saving over a million dollars in electricity use each year.

At Johnson & Johnson, I’m responsible for a PSP program that we call “Cause an Effect” – which includes tools that educate employees on four component parts of personal sustainability (environment, community, well-being and economy) and on ways in which they can improve their own environmental impact , health and connection to their communities– for instance, by doing eating locally grown food you are supporting your local farmer, reducing your environmental footprint and improving your health. The program is entirely voluntary, but those who decide to participate can make pledges to make changes and be recognized for their efforts.

So, you might be asking, what is my PSP? Like many of you, I’m struggling with my fitness, so I’m pledging to do Pilates three times each week for at least three months. I think it will help with weight loss, physical health and mental health, and I’m hoping it will help me to be a bit more graceful.

In honor of Earth Day, a fair was held at Johnson & Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick that gave people a chance to see what the company is doing to reduce its environmental footprint as well as to learn more about what can be done at home. Rob Halper and I thought we would catch some of the action on tape, and so I once again tried my hand at being a roving reporter — and found some colleagues to interview who were responsible for the day’s festivities:

(Note — the Earth Day fair was actually held last week.)