Louis J. Butler Keynote Speaker

Founder of Nature Ain’t A Luxury initiative
UN keynote speaker and TED Countdown speaker
Musician and BBC Natural History Unit collaborator

Louis J. Butler's Biography

Louis J. Butler, aka Louis VI, is a musician, Zoologist, film composer, documentary maker, nature activist, and Founder & CEO of Nature Ain’t A Luxury. His work cross-pollinates music and nature to encourage people to reconnect with the natural world by relearning how to listen to its sounds, bringing a gap that spans Planetary health and our health too.

He was one of the first musicians in the world to feature “NATURE” as an official artist as part of the Sounds Right initiative with the Museum of the UN. He recently delivered his first TED Talk at TED Countdown on “the language we’re all fluent IN but have forgotten how to hear, Nature”, and took over the Barbican Conservatory in Oct & Dec 2025 with his twice sold out Exhibition, NATURE AIN’T A LUXURY, an immersive experience of listening, allowing people, particularly from the diaspora and lower economic backgrounds to be immersed in the sonics from truly biodiverse indigenously stewarded rainforests from around the world.

Delivering a keynote speech at the UN 80th Anniversary in front of 2000 people Jan 2026, including the Secretary General and Prof Brian Cox, Louis has been tackling environmental colonialism, separation sickness from nature, and giving people the opportunity to connect nature the science of their nervous system but also emotional feeling, Louis was the Creator in Residence at the BBC Natural History Unit, where he presented live on Springwatch and worked as a field recordist on Blue Planet III.

He is the newest Ambassador at the Wildlife Trust and spoken in key moments from COP26 to BPI, and GEI, & the UN Headquarters; using his rising influence to help underserved diasporic communities re-establish their relationship with nature in ways that speak to feeling as much as fact. He argues that the key to protecting biodiversity—and ourselves—lies in our ears, working towards a future where nature is not a luxury, but a necessity.

TED Countdown talk

The Language we're all fluent in... yet forgotten how to hear. Nature.

UN 80th Anniversary

Optimism in the face planetary struggle and how to learn to be better Earthlings again, through our ears.

Nature Ain't A Luxury but a necessity

Relearning to listen to nature's language as a tool to reconnect us to who we are.

UN Headquarters NYC

How we officially recognised Nature as an artist with Spotify, Museum for the UN, Soundrights, Earthpercent and Brian Eno.

Joseph Roundtree Foundation

How we can leverage royalties and credit nature as an artist, to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change.

Manchester Beyond the Music, Music Industry Conference

Why using music, art & film & embracing our inner geek is a key new tool to both reconnecting us back to nature as a species, and bringing those left out into action in a more authentic, relatable way.

The Art of change

Why we must use storytelling for positive change, and speak to feeling, not just the head.

COP26

The colonial legacy of climate change and why young people feel alienated from nature.

He operates at the intersection of music, science and environmental activism, using sound to reconnect audiences with nature and reframe the relationship between planetary and human health.
He translates complex ideas around biodiversity, environmental justice and nervous system science into immersive experiences that resonate emotionally as well as intellectually.
He brings a unique creative perspective shaped by work with the BBC Natural History Unit and global platforms from TED Countdown to the United Nations.
He is a compelling and original speaker who blends storytelling, sound and science to create deeply memorable and transformative audience experiences.
His work equips organisations to engage diverse audiences in sustainability, inspiring new ways to think about connection, culture and collective responsibility.