OUR ORGANIZATION
ABOUT US
Climate Conservancy is an international, youth-led nonprofit organization for climate conservation and education, dedicated to the intersectionality of art and science of environmental stewardship. Guided by a belief in the power of art, education, intersectionality, and creative expression, we unite over 9,000 members in more than sixty countries. Through art in all its forms, rigorous scientific inquiry, and policy engagement, we equip youth to shape equitable climate solutions, advance conservation, and preserve the world’s most irreplaceable landscapes for generations to come.
THE STORY OF CLIMATE CONSERVANCY
How it all began: Unravelling the Mystery
Climate Conservancy was founded in March of 2020 by Leena Joshi, a quiet yet determined force in the climate space, whose path to environmental leadership began with a breath, quite literally.
Leena grew up in New Delhi, where the air was dense, the skies often veiled, and the act of breathing could feel laborious. Pollution was not a distant concern but a lived reality; one that shaped her lungs, her childhood, and eventually, her purpose. It was during a childhood trip to Switzerland, at the age of nine, that she experienced something startling: clear skies and pure air. It felt surreal. She breathed deeply, freely and for perhaps the first time in her life. And with that breath came a quiet question that refused to leave her: Why can’t this be possible back home?
That moment would mark the beginning of a lifelong journey. Upon returning to India, Leena began to question the inequity of clean air, and to explore what climate change truly meant. What she discovered devastated her, not only the scale of environmental destruction, but the startling absence of awareness in her own circles. When she began sharing what she’d learned with peers at school, she was met with silence, not of indifference, but of unknowing. So, she began to speak louder. Social media became a medium, her voice a spark. She created space for dialogue, hosted school discussions, and invited curiosity.
Eventually everything shifted.
Her friends began to listen, to learn, and to act. And Leena saw, with striking clarity, that awareness is often the first instigator of change. Education, she realized, is a quiet form of power. And conservation, grounded in tangible action, is the natural end of knowledge. And when art and storytelling are honored alongside science, and the voices of youth are not merely heard but heeded within the halls of policy and power, climate action is transformed, becoming not only more just, but imbued with the kind of humanity and vision that endures.
Years later, at the age of fourteen, she found herself walking along a coastline, the sky soft and the sand golden. But the beach was littered with plastic. So much so that the beauty before her felt overshadowed. That moment, too, was a turning point. The dissonance between nature’s grace and human negligence had become too loud to ignore.
Her efforts grew from weekend tree-planting alongside her mother, to gardening, composting, and low-waste living but also working towards systematic change: engaging policy, examining systems, and questioning why so many young people who cared lacked the means to act. She began posting, questioning, organizing. But it still wasn’t enough. The world was facing a climate emergency and too many young voices were left unheard.
In 2020, she finally founded Climate Conservancy, an international youth-led nonprofit organization rooted in the belief that young people, when equipped with knowledge, tools, and support, can lead climate action. What began as a modest effort to close the gap between awareness and impact has since grown into a movement with grassroots chapters in 67 countries, partnerships with organizations such as the United Nations, and a growing body of youth leaders using art, advocacy, education, and leadership to restore the future.
Leena never set out to become an environmentalist. As a child, she only knew what she saw; polluted air, plastic-choked coastlines, and a world out of balance. But she also saw potential in herself and in others to change that story.
She often reflects:
“If a child feels that breathing clean air is a privilege, something is deeply wrong with out systems. Clean air is a human right. And if youth, activists, and communities can mobilize globally, imagine what is possible when institutions, industries, and governments truly begin to listen.” She believes climate justice is about making space to breathe for the Earth, and for all who call it home.
And so, with grace, vision, and a sense of inherited responsibility, Leena Joshi continues to lead a global movement driven by empathy and an unshakable belief in the power of intersectionality of art, storytelling and science can lead us towards a just, livable future.
THEORY OF CHANGE
We hold, as those before us have held, that lasting change begins with the careful placing of trust. This trust belongs in the hands of the young, in the counsel of those who have stood at the frontlines of the climate crisis, and in the enduring belief that they are not only the heirs of our shared inheritance but the rightful stewards of its renewal.
When knowledge, resources, and opportunity are entrusted to them, leadership ceases to be a distant promise and becomes a living presence. When such leadership is cultivated with the discipline of science, the reach of education, the vision of art, and the patience of conservation, the work begins to endure beyond the span of one lifetime.
We draw upon every medium that art and storytelling offer: the painted canvas, the written word, the moving image, the spoken truth. These are joined with the precision of scientific inquiry and the breadth of education, for we know that hearts are stirred by beauty as well as by evidence. Together, they become the language through which climate action is both imagined and made real.
Our mission is not only to prepare youth for leadership but to ensure their rightful inclusion in the councils where climate policy is forged. Their perspectives, rooted in lived experience and sharpened by innovation, must shape the laws and systems that govern our collective future. Through this, conservation becomes more than the protection of land and water; it becomes the preservation of culture, of dignity, and of the possibility of a just and abundant world.
We have witnessed this truth in many forms: a young voice in a chamber of policy that shifts the direction of debate; a film that moves a community to protect its forests; a small grant that grows into a solution carrying a village through a season of scarcity; a work of art that ignites a movement across borders.
We measure our success not solely in forests restored, policies reformed, or innovations scaled, but also in the quiet victories: the return of hope to a weary heart, the weaving of alliances across lands and generations, and the deepened resolve to steward the earth with care.
If we place our trust in the young, equip them with the means to act, grant them the stage to tell their stories and the seat to shape decisions, and preserve spaces for their healing, they will safeguard the earth while reimagining the systems that govern it. Through their hands, minds, and voices, a world will be fashioned that is resilient, equitable, and worthy of all who are yet to come.
