We are pleased to announce further speakers including Laura Crane (former Pro Surfer/Love Island), Joss Ford (Enviral), Jenny Tough (Writer & Adventurer), Steffen Boehm (University of Exeter), Yasmin Belhadj (Teach The Future), Jack Samler (Voi) & Claire Eatock (University of Exeter)
Blue Earth Summit is pleased to announce further speakers at the two-day event being held in Bristol on 13-14 October at The Marble Factory for day 1 and then The Wave for day 2. The final programme and speaker topics can be found here.
Laura Crane is a former pro surfer turned TV celebrity who has been in front of the camera since the age of 12. As with many elite athletes, her relationship with the sport changed as she transitioned from passionate participant to money-earning professional. Constantly moving around the world to compete, combined with the constant need to look good for sponsors meant that by the age of 17, led her to develop bulimia. Appearing on Love Island was a chance to highlight her progress from the disorder, to promote a lifestyle that is healthy and positive. Crane now spends a lot of time raising funds for charity, and uses her social media profile to promote the benefits of exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
Joss Ford is the founder of Enviral, who believe that all companies should have a social or environmental purpose and those that do have great stories to tell. They work with a number of clients, dedicating their communications skills to help create a cleaner, greener future. Enviral are natural storytellers born from a deep understanding of environmental business, PR, video production, brand and digital marketing. As for greenwash, he can spot it a mile off.
Jenny Tough is an adventurer, writer, film-maker who takes on physical challenges to explore the world. Jenny enjoys writing about her solo mountain expeditions and tales of world travel as a solo female. When she’s not exploring the mountains, she lives in Scotland, and occasionally wherever she parks her adventure van. She is currently touring with media partner Sidetracked on their regular themed outdoor evenings, in Bristol on the 14th Oct.
Steffen Boehm is Professor in Organisation & Sustainability at University of Exeter Business School. His teaching and research focuses on the role of organisations in the sustainability transition, with a particular focus on climate change. He has published six books: Repositioning Organization Theory (Palgrave), Against Automobility (Wiley-Blackwell), Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets (Mayfly), The Atmosphere Business (Mayfly), and Ecocultures: Blueprints for Sustainable Communities (Routledge) & Negotiating Climate Change in Crisis (Open Book Publishers). The book Climate Activism (Cambridge) is forthcoming.
Yasmin Belhadj is one of the team behind the Teach the Future campaign which is urgently highlighting the need to repurpose the entire education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis. Students need to be taught about the climate emergency and ecological crisis: how they are caused, what we can do to mitigate them and what our future lives and jobs are going to look like due to them. Sustainability and these crises need to become key content in all subject areas. Educators therefore need to be trained in how to teach about these difficult topics in a way that empowers students, and they need funding and resources to do this.
Claire Eatock is PhD Impact & Partnership Dev Mgr at the University of Exeter. In parallel to her role as a researcher and project manager, Claire is also an active outdoor instructor and leads expeditions kayaking and coasteering around the world. As a qualified teacher she has a particular passion for communicating her love of the sea to all audiences and has spent over 10 years as a lecturer for a number of prominent Universities across a range of countries. Claire is interested in exploring the effects on human health and wellbeing of a range of marine activities through environmental and occupational exposures using a range of public engagement methods. She has over 20 years’ experience of working at the interface of research and industry in an effort to make academic outputs applicable to our wider society. She has held a number of positions within charitable organisations, consultancies and has held several influential board positions.
Jack Samler is the General Manager for the UK and Ireland (UKI) at Voi Technology, a leading European micro mobility operator headquartered in Sweden. Jack is responsible for leading the UKI business, working closely with local city partners to drive the green transport revolution across our towns and cities. He strongly believes that micro mobility can help transform our urban spaces by offering people an affordable, convenient, sustainable and fun mode of transport. He is passionate about the role micro mobility can play in reducing reliance on cars, ultimately creating towns and cities that are better places to live – free of pollution and congestion.
Prior to Voi, Jack was at Deliveroo, where he held several leadership positions—the most recent of which was as the UKI commercial director. Prior to Deliveroo, Samler was a management consultant at Deloitte before joining the BBC’s strategy and policy team. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he studied as a Fulbright scholar.
