Shreya Chaudhuri – Reclaiming Roots: The Global Fight for Indigenous Science
Bioneers | Published: April 23, 2025 IndigeneityYouth Video
For generations, Indigenous science has safeguarded ecosystems worldwide—yet mainstream environmental solutions continue to sideline it. As climate crises escalate, young activists are reclaiming these knowledge systems, challenging colonial frameworks, and forging global solidarity. Drawing from her family’s six-generation history in India’s tea industry and her work decolonizing environmental education at UC Berkeley and through her nonprofit, Project Planet, Shreya Chaudhuri explores how students and youth-led movements are reshaping the fight for climate justice by centering Indigenous knowledge. The future of sustainability isn’t about reinventing solutions—it’s about reclaiming the roots that have long sustained our planet. The question is: will we listen?
This talk was delivered at the 2025 Bioneers Conference.
Shreya Chaudhuri, a senior at UC Berkeley, majoring in Environmental Science and Geography with minors in Global Poverty & Practice and Data Science, runs Project Planet, a nonprofit for decolonial environmental education, including teaching the class Decolonizing Environmentalism at Berkeley that she created. As a Climate Action Fellow at the Student Environmental Resource Center and UC Office of the President, Shreya advances equity in UC Climate Policy and leads the Decolonial Environmental Network on campus. She is also on the council for the Students of Color Environmental Collective, and, for her senior thesis, Shreya studied Indigenous ecological knowledge and climate resilience on her family’s ancestral tea farm in India.
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