Manmeet Poonam Sandhu: GEO-5 Summit to Highlight Critical Environmental Goals
Online, June 22, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Reuters reports that the United Nations has released a Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5) report in preparation for the Rio+20 summit in Brazil. This summit is expected to be one of the largest environmental meetings to date, as over 50,000 participants are expected. Government and corporate representatives, as well as environmental and lobbyist personnel, will convene to discuss environmental issues and goals. Manmeet Poonam Sandhu, an environmentalist located in Washington, DC, believes the Rio summit is a step in the right direction concerning environmental action that must take place; however, Sandhu is urging attendees to follow through with the goals that they set. She believes that talking about issues is a great start, but following through with action plans is the only way to ensure environmental change.
The previously cited article explains that the GEO-5 report is an environmental "health-check" that took three years to compile. With the world's population set to reach nine billion by 2050, Achim Steiner, U.N. Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, believes that current practices cannot be maintained.
"If current trends continue, if current patterns of production and consumption of natural resources prevail and cannot be reversed and 'decoupled,' then governments will preside over unprecedented levels of damage and degradation," reported Steiner.
"It's time that the two largest carbon dioxide emitters in the world, China and the United States of America, start doing something about their contribution to climate change," commented environmentalist Manmeet Poonam Sandhu. "Sitting at meetings and talking about the issue is not enough, Kyoto did not compel these countries enough, and melting ice caps aren't scaring these countries enough. So what is it going to take to get these giants to slash their carbon emission rate? I think that a good starting point, for the United States at least, is to remove the notion that climate change is a 'conspiracy theory' and inform the public that climate change is real. It is harmful and linked to our daily decisions."
Reuters asserts that, out of 90 critical environmental goals, only four have experienced significant change according to the GEO-5 report. Manmeet Poonam Sandhu cites this as the very reason why officials need to move beyond talks and start enacting action plans that will result in real change.
ABOUT:
Manmeet Poonam Sandhu is a graduate student at The George Washington University. Currently earning her Master of Public Health degree in Environmental Health Science and Policy, Manmeet Poonam Sandhu is a dedicated academic, a successful environmentalist, and an entertainer. In addition to pursuing her degree, Manmeet Poonam Sandhu is also leading the efforts of Diversion in DC, a waste diversion research project that she has created to improve awareness and execution of recycling and composting.