Last week, I had the chance to talk to WiserLocal Dhaka organizer, Adib Khondoker Ratul, a 22-year-old student in environmental science in Bangladesh. I learnt about his commitment to social and environmental change and why he has become a fervent organizer of local gatherings in his home town of Dhaka.

“We have to learn how the earth works for our sakes and for future generations”, Adib tells me.

He first came across the word sustainability during his academic studies and has been fascinated ever since. Knowing that it comprises a field of various subjects and disciplines, he eventually decided on environmental sciences with a focus on energy and water.

Adib attends most of his classes with a close friend, Mahbubur Rahman Apu Adib. The two share very similar views and work together closely in organizing WiserLocal gatherings.

In 2010, he coined the name CHANGE (Committed to Humanitarian Alternatives for Nature and Green Environment) for a local organization dedicated to raising awareness for environmental issues. Although Adib thinks of CHANGE as a “small boat in a giant ocean of movements,” this is in fact exemplary of WiserEarth founder Paul Hawken’s idea: one big movement consisting of numberless small units working towards change.

Adib discovered WiserEarth when seeking volunteer work in the environmental sector. He asked himself, Are there any social networking site these days that unite the world in the environment sector? To no surprise, he stumbled upon WiserEarth and immediately joined the community.

Adib felt that he wanted to get even more active in the community and help further support both the mission of WiserEarth and his own by sharing and connecting with others. This led him to set up the WiserBangladesh group with the goal of bringing people together in Bangladesh.

On top of that, he used the group to help launch the first WiserLocal gathering in Dhaka, which took place in December 2011. Thanks to the support of the WiserEarth staff and New Delhi-based editor Yatin Thakur, he was able to bring together 22 participants last year.

With dedicated people like Adib–asking questions, trying to understand how the earth works, and committing to preserve it for future generations–there is no doubt that change will happen.

You can contact Adib here on WiserEarth.

Some of the groups Adib is a member of: The Water group at WiserEarth, WiserLocal Organizers Group, WiserBangladesh.


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