Under Claire’s last post, Martin asked what the feelings were like on the ground at Rio+20 and what could be viewed as successes? In this next post I will address the question of why people left and went to the People’s Summit.
After coming 4th in the Rio 20+ competition, and thanks to generous sonsorship from the Newcastle University Business School, I am in Sao Paulo getting ready to start day three of work experience at Linhas Comunicacao PR company.
I am writting my blog over breakfast at my hotel with many business travelers sitting around me doing work and reading newspapers over breakfast. This is a great insight into life as an international business professional – and I am enjoying it!
Sitting in the food court at Rio Centro – the hub of Rio+20 – grabbing a quick bite to eat, taking some time to process my thoughts.
The last few days have been great. I must say a special thanks to the Planet Earth Institute for funding this trip for me – it has been an invaluable experience to be here and participate in the conference.
Its the 21st already?!
I hardly know where the time has gone!
So much has happened in the last few days – here are a few worth a mention:
First impressions: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
Late on Monday evening I arrived in Brazil on my School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CEGs) sponsored trip to the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development.
Tuesday we made our way to the conference centre which took a huge amount of time. After what must have been about 2 hours we got there and did our accreditation and met the rest of the PEI team, including a few of the GSC (Global Scientific Committee) members.
The first impression that one gets is the scale of this operation. 50,000 registered delegates all bustling about in a conference centre that comprises 5 buildings, each the size of the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, one just for the food court. There there are the side pavilions too.