06:00, 04 October 2024
Words by Abi Scaife, Staff Writer, London
There can be a fear around climate events that you must reach a certain level of sustainability to attend - that you must already be eco-friendly ‘enough’ to walk through the door.
While of course, we should encourage people to improve their sustainability, implementing these barriers really does nothing other than create shame. People and businesses are less likely to try if they think they are going to be judged for the steps they haven’t yet taken - something that Blue Earth is acutely aware of.
Smiley News previously interviewed Will and Guy Hayler, two of the co-founders of Blue Earth, to hear about what sets them apart from other conferences. We heard about how their summit is a meeting place for changemakers who want to use business to positively influence our world, and now we’re back with an exciting announcement.
This October, Smiley News will be teaming up with the Blue Earth Summit as their official media partners. Ahead of the summit, we are catching up with Will again, to hear about their incredible lineup, and how you can get involved.
“At Blue Earth, we’re not being too perfectionist,” explains Will. “We're looking at forward-thinking people that have dominated their industry, and are looking to apply to something more purposeful.”
Blue Earth has always made an effort towards diversity, but this year a whopping 55% of the speakers will be women. In a world where men frequently dominate, both in and out of speaking events like this, it’s amazing to see a co-ed event where the scales are tipped in the favour of female leaders.
Will says: “There's an abundance of female leadership out there in the world, and I don't think it's okay [to] be lazy about it say ‘we're taking people on merit’. If you want genuine diversity in your event, you've got to go out and look for it.”
Female leaders like Fiona Morgan, Dominique Palmer and Deborah Meaden will be speaking at the event, taking to the stage and sharing their knowledge and experience.
Aware that climate conferences can be somewhat of an echo chamber, with the same old faces and the same old stories, Will and the Blue Earth team have made an effort to shake things up.
“When we look at speakers, we don't want to just put the same speakers that turn up at every other sustainability event and bang the same drum in a slightly worn-out way,” says Will with a wry laugh. “We're looking at people that say, ‘I've got a different narrative. I've got a different perspective on the world’.”
So, why should people attend the Blue Earth summit?
Ultimately, Blue Earth isn’t about discussion - it’s about action. By bringing together people who are passionate about business, and their individual sectors, as well as the climate, you are setting off a chain reaction of change.
“Our Theory of Change is all about reconnecting the working world, getting more progressive conversations going between third, private and public sectors [and] putting business at the forefront of that change,” explains Will. “Using the capitalist models that have existed before, but trying to use them as a force for good.”
Climate action is important - therefore, climate action should be easy to invest in. If you want people to change the world, you have to make that change accessible - and the best way to do that is to make it profitable.
Will says: “A lot of investors that we speak to, and investors that come to Blue Earth, want their investments to do some good for the world, but they also want their investments to have the same return as any other.”
How do you make that change? By connecting climate and business, connecting leaders and changemakers. Only by working together can we make viable changes to the fate of our planet, and that starts with events like the Blue Earth summit.
The Blue Earth Summit will take place from October 16th-18th. To buy tickets to the Blue Earth summit, you can follow the link here.
To learn more about the amazing speakers at Blue Earth this year, you can follow this link to their website.
At Smiley Movement, we like to elevate the work of charities across the world. Here are three charities whose causes align with the themes in this article.
Every Can Counts. This is a not-for-profit recycling programme, encouraging people to recycle more often, to protect our planet. Support them here.
Trees For Cities. They are working to plant more trees within large metropolitan areas, for the betterment of people and planet. Support them here.
The Canal & Rivers Trust. The Rivers Trust are conservation experts who work to create wild, healthy, natural rivers. Support them here.
This article aligns with the UN SDGs Industry, Infrastructure and Innovation and Climate Action.
