By Samantha Finch
On our last morning in Brazil, two crews woke up early and conducted the final interviews closing out our reporting and taping. Next stop, post-production.
Alex, Cassie, Dallas, and Chad interviewed Professor Claudia Green, the Pace University business professor who has led students through Brazil for the past 14 years, teaching them about marketing, sustainability, and tourism in this fast-developing country.
Capturing footage of Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas during our interview with Mario Moscatelli. Photo Credit: Samantha Finch
Soon afterward, Professor Andrew Revkin, along with Elise, Vinny, and me, headed to the shoreline around Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, the iconic lagoon at the heart of Rio, to speak with Mario Moscatelli, a Brazilian biologist who has worked for decades to clean the city’s sewage-tainted waters. He showed us the mangrove forests, many of which he had planted starting in 1989, that have risen around the largely restored lagoon.
After a 30-day stretch without rain, the skies finally opened up for some much-needed moisture. This of course occurred as we were setting up our camera on a dock jutting into the bay. After running through the rain with our Canon Xf100 covered with a cardigan, we found some shelter where we were finally able to conduct the interview (pausing during the heaviest downpours, when the sound of rain on the tarp over our heads literally drowned out Moscatelli).
Moscatelli, who quit a government job long ago over inaction on pollution, has been a vocal critic of the city for failing to clean up other coastal waters even with the Olympics looming.
After getting some background shots around the lagoon, which is connected to the sea only by a single canal, we were taken by van to get some footage of Olympic locations and construction sites in the fast-growing Barra da Tijuca neighborhood.
Vinny and Professor Revkin looking over a shot of one of the Olympic Games sites. Photo Credit: Samantha Finch
We arrived back to the hotel, our final filming moments completed, and prepared to check out and shop at the “Hippie Market” during our final hours in Brazil.
At 6 p.m. we left the hotel and headed for the airport where we got a bite to eat and did some final shopping. Our trip officially concluded as we landed at JFK International Airport just as the sun rose over Jamaica Bay.
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