By Greshma Pious Raju, India.
For Greshma Pious Raju, a climate and peace educator from Kerala, India, an internship with Earth Charter International in Costa Rica changed her understanding of sustainability. While studying at the University for Peace, she encountered the Earth Charter and its Education Center and eventually took part in the Leadership, Sustainability and Ethics course for young people. She saw the role of the Earth Charter in supporting reconciliation and dialogue, as well as in fostering friendships across national boundaries.
In 2021, during the isolation of the pandemic, Greshma founded Ecopeace Teen Cafe, as a space to bring together teenagers to foster dialogue, care for nature and the healing of human relationship across cultures. Guided by the four pillars of the Earth Charter, these online dialogues gave teenagers a place to share their fears and hopes, listen with compassion, and learn across cultures. By the time of her 2026 account, the initiative had engaged more than 500 young people from 25 countries across four continents.
As an Earth Charter Young Leader, Greshma encourages participants to carry that connection into their communities through nature walks, cleanups, and projects of their own. Working alongside them has strengthened her hope in the possibilities of small actions. The conversations she began during a time of uncertainty have become opportunities for young people to practise peace and environmental responsibility together.
