Risalat Khan

Risalat Khan is a social activist, environmentalist, geologist, and photographer from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College (Massachusetts) in May 2013. During his time there, he devoted his energy trying to improve the 192 year-old institution for future generations of students, notably leading a campaign to change the College’s racist mascot – the Lord Jeff, championing divestment from coal, and designing and implementing an academic planner tool to help students plan their education better. He was recognized for his efforts with the Thomas H. Wyman 1951 medal, “awarded to that member of the senior class who best represents the highest standards in scholarship, athletics and/or extracurricular activities, community service, integrity, character and humanism as determined by the Dean of Students and the Prize Committee.”

Risalat understands Climate Change and environmental degradation as the biggest challenge that our species has ever had to face, requiring an unprecedented restructuring of the present global social order. He hopes to do all he can to help overcome this challenge, motivated largely by the vulnerability of his fellow country (wo)men to rising sea levels, and dreams for humanity a more egalitarian future where progress is measured using parameters other than mere economic growth.