Will Hayler grew up wearing Surfers Against Sewage hoodies in Cornwall, a ten-year-old unwittingly becoming a “mini surfing, clean water activist.” Years later, when one of his children became seriously ill with E. coli from surfing in Southwest England, the irony crystallised a fundamental frustration with how the climate movement operates.
“The climate movement is broken because it hasn’t had enough ideas about what comes next,” Will explains. “There’s so much focus on what we need to stop doing, but not enough on what we could be doing instead.”
The Logic Trap
Will draws a pointed comparison: “Look at a packet of cigarettes these days. Look at the health warning before someone opens the packet and lights that cigarette. Smoking is alive and well in Paris, alive and well in Indonesia. Don’t think that just knowing the consequences is enough.”
After sixty years of creating awareness about environmental destruction, the climate movement has reached a ceiling. The awareness exists, but it’s not providing a clear narrative of what comes next. This matters because solutions don’t just need to be better for the planet, they need to out-compete existing harmful practices on every level.
“If you want to reduce ocean plastic, you’ve got to find a material that outcompetes plastic,” Will says. “If you want to stop investment in fossil fuels, you need to find a return on investment that outcompetes fossil fuels.” The keyword is “radically” better, because “you’re asking people to change behaviour. We are creatures of habit. The unknown has got to be worth the risk.”
Throwing the Best Party
Will’s solution is deceptively simple: “If you want to create change, throw the best party you can that’s better than the party that’s happening down the street.” This philosophy led him to co-found Blue Earth, a platform that spotlights what needs to start rather than what needs to stop, and crucially, where deals get done to make it happen.
The climate movement has become too insular, too strict about who gets to participate. “The climate world has created this barrier where you need to have had a 40-year career working within climate science to be taken seriously,” Will notes. “The impostor syndrome is huge.”
Blue Earth deliberately breaks down these barriers. “If you come with solutions and a positive mindset around a better way forward, Blue Earth is the place to be. What you don’t get is judged at the door.” This inclusivity is strategic: “If the climate world could have fixed the world’s problems on its own, it would have. It hasn’t. Now is the time to invite more people to the table.”
A Festival for the Future
Blue Earth describes itself as “adventure-led and solution-focused.” Adventure-led because “we know where we’re trying to get to, but how we get there won’t be a straight path,” and solution-focused because every conversation centres on: “We know the problem. Where’s the solution?”
Will envisions Blue Earth as “a festival for the future”, a festival because everyone’s welcome, and future because the innovation and answers already exist, they just need scaling. Unlike traditional environmental conferences, Blue Earth actively welcomes “unusual suspects” from finance and business. Will’s favourite example: opening their recent conference with a Formula One driver discussing what it takes to win. “We put a founder on stage with someone from an environmental background, they don’t need to learn more about the environment, they need to learn how to build a business at scale and disrupt a market.”
When Energy Becomes Free
Central to Will’s optimism is a vision grounded in current technology: “We’re on a path where renewable energy costs almost nothing. What does a world look like with free and abundant energy? How does that change the way we produce food? How does it change where we live? How does it change how we travel?”
This isn’t distant fantasy. “We already know how. We’ve got solar, wind and battery. How do we scale that up?” For Will, this is where the climate movement needs to rediscover its winning mentality. “People like being on the winning team. Unfortunately, the climate movement is not on the winning team anymore.”
Every climate solution must jump through one crucial hoop: “Does that help people’s cost of living? The cost of living is pretty much based on energy prices. We’ve got a solution that says solar, wind and battery reduce the cost of energy. I think it’s going to go to zero in our lifetime.”
Where Deals Get Done
What sets Blue Earth apart is its focus on outcomes rather than awareness. “We have a higher ticket price because we want to make sure that people invest in going to the Blue Earth Summit and can justify that investment as a return on investment, and that normally requires a deal to get done.”
The platform connects solution-focused innovators with investment, networks, and larger organisations seeking genuine change. One example: the partnership with MARS, which owns pet food brands like Pedigree. “The way we feed our pets is actually a problem,” Will notes. “MARS is looking to invest in businesses that are producing better alternatives.”
Blue Earth’s move from Bristol to London reflects Will’s belief that the capital is uniquely positioned to lead. “We’ve got the political will, we’ve got the investment, we’ve got the innovation, we’ve got the ideas, we’ve got some of the best institutions in the world. We think that London in the next five to ten years could be absolutely central to finding the solutions that restore and regenerate the natural world.”
When Climate Starts Winning
The climate movement has been “absolutely masters in stopping things,” Will acknowledges. “What we’re saying at Blue Earth is that’s great. But what are we starting?”
The climate movement starts winning when it stops focusing solely on what it’s against and starts building what it’s for. When it welcomes everyone to the table and makes solving climate challenges the most attractive career path for the brightest minds.
Most importantly, it starts winning when it recognises that the solutions aren’t just possible, they’re already emerging. They just need the right platform, the right connections, and the right celebration to scale.
“Blue Earth is far closer to a celebration of what comes next,” Will concludes. “And if it’s radically better, well, why don’t we talk about that with a smile rather than that angsty, angry, untrustworthy climate movement?”
In a world overwhelmed by environmental bad news, that might be exactly the shift we need.
Don’t Miss Out on These Events
Join the movement towards sustainable solutions at Blue Earth’s upcoming events:
- Blue Earth Forum: 24–26 June 2025
- Blue Earth Summit: 15–17 October 2025
