New for 2026, the EarthX Main Stage serves as the narrative anchor of the event, platforming the biggest ideas facing the planet and the leaders driving real-world solutions. Programming will center on five core questions shaping the future of environmental leadership:

America at 250: Can Nature Still Be Our Common Ground? At a moment of deep polarization, can land, water, and wildlife once again serve as a unifying national project—or has environmentalism become too politicized to repair?

Innovation, Capital, and Corporate Leadership: Who Actually Drives Environmental Change Now? If government sets the rules but markets move the world, how are companies, investors, and entrepreneurs shaping the future of energy, conservation, and resilience—and where are they falling short?

Nature Under Pressure: How Do We Manage Land and Oceans in a Resource-Hungry World? What frameworks allow conservation, restoration, and responsible extraction to coexist—without pretending tradeoffs don’t exist?

Health, Culture, and Connection: Why Environmentalism Lost People—and How to Win Them Back discusses has environmentalism failed by becoming abstract and moralizing—and can a renewed focus on human health, beauty, place, and lived experience rebuild broad public support?

Designing for Nature and Life: What Comes After Sustainability? If “sustainability” is no longer ambitious—or honest—enough, what does a life-centered model of growth look like in practice across cities, infrastructure, food systems, and industry?

Featured Speakers:

• Bob Ballard, Oceanographer and Founder, Ocean Exploration Trust
• Xiye Bastida, Executive Director of Re-Earth Initiative
• Ed Begley Jr., Actor and Environmentalist
• Rachelle Carson Begley, Actor and Environmentalist
• Felipe Calderón, Former President of Mexico
• Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder, Mission Blue
• Isolde Fair, Grammy Award-winning Singer-Songwriter and Performing Artist
• Lord Fatafehi Fakafānua, Prime Minister, Kingdom of Tonga
• Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, Oceanographer
• Torrei Hart, Comedian, Actress, and Social Impact Entrepreneur
• Mariel Hemingway, Actor, Author, and Environmentalist
• Dr. Serena McCalla, Ph.D., Founder, iResearch Institute; nationally recognized science education pioneer
• Commander G. Mark Miller, Co-Founder, GMSO
• Juan Carlos Monterrey, Special Representative for Climate Change of Panamá
• Steven Nickel, Director, Consumer Hardware Operations, Google
• Bershan Shaw, Entrepreneur, Global Speaker, and Leadership Coach
• Stormy Simon, Former CEO, Overstock.com
• Richard Wiese, President, The Explorers Club
• Andrew Winston, Author of Net Positive; Thinkers50 “#1 Management Thinker in the World”

 

Full agenda coming soon.