The Washington Post,Folha de S.Paulo,UOL,

The Boston GlobeThe Recent York Times.

Q: One focus of your reporting is human rights and environmental issues within the Amazon. As a part of your fellowship, you contributed to a recent editorial in on fighting deforestation within the region. Why is reporting on this topic essential?

A: For a lot of Brazilians, the Amazon is a distant and distant territory, and folks living in other parts of the country aren’t fully aware of all of its problems and all of its potential. This is comparable to the USA — like many individuals here, they do not see how they may very well be related to the human rights violations and the destruction of the rainforest which might be happening.

But, we’re all complicit within the destruction in some ways since the economic forces driving the deforestation of the rainforest all have a market, and these markets are in all places, in Brazil and here within the U.S. I feel it is an element of journalism to point out people within the U.S., Brazil, and elsewhere that we’re a part of the issue, and as a part of the issue, we must always be a part of the answer by being aware of it, caring about it, and taking actions which might be inside our power.

Within the U.S., for instance, voters can influence policy like the present negotiations for financial support for fighting deforestation within the Amazon. And as consumers, we will be more aware — is the meat we’re consuming related to deforestation? Is the timber on our construction sites coming from the Amazon?

Truth is, in Brazil, we have now turned our backs to the Amazon for thus long. It’s our duty to guard it for the sake of climate change. If we do not handle it, there can be serious consequences to our local climate, our local communities, and for the entire world. It’s an enormous matter of human rights because our living will depend on that, each locally and globally.

Q: Before coming to MIT, you were at in São Paulo, where you contributed to reporting on the recent presidential election. What changes do you expect to see with the brand new Lula administration?

A: To climate and environment, the primary signs were positive. However the optimism didn’t last a semester, as politics is imposing itself. Lula is facing increasing difficulty constructing a majority in a conservative Congress, over which agribusiness holds tremendous power and influence. As we speak, environmental policy is under Congress’s attack. A committee within the House has just passed a ruling drowning power from the environmental minister, Marina Silva, and from the recently created National Indigenous People Ministry, led by Sonia Guajajara. Each Marina and Sonia are global ecological and human rights champions, and I ponder what the impact can be if Congress ratifies these changes. It remains to be unclear how it could impact the efforts to fight deforestation.

As well as, there may be an internal dispute in the federal government between environmentalists and people in favor of mining and massive infrastructure projects. Petrobras, the state-run oil company, is attempting to get authorization to research and drill offshore oil reserves within the mouth of the Amazon River. The federal environmental protection agency did a conclusive report suspending the operation, saying it’s critical and threatens the region’s sensitive environment and indigenous communities. And, after all, it could be one other source of greenhouse gas emissions. ​

That said, it is not a denialist government. I should mention the short response from the administration to the Yanomami genocide earlier this 12 months. In January, an independent media organization named Sumaúma reported on the deaths of over five hundred indigenous children from the Yanomami community within the Amazon over the past 4 years. This was an enormous shock in Brazil, and the administration responded immediately. They sent task forces to the region and at the moment are expelling the illegal miners that were bringing diseases and were ultimately chargeable for these humanitarian tragedies. To be clear: It remains to be an issue. It is not solved. But that is already an excellent example of positive motion.

Fighting deforestation within the Amazon and the Cerrado, one other biome critical to climate regulation in Brazil, is not going to be easy. Rebuilding the environmental policy will take time, and the agencies chargeable for enforcement are understaffed. As well as, environmental crime has change into more sophisticated, connecting with other major criminal organizations within the country. In April, for the primary time, there was a discount in deforestation within the Amazon after two consecutive months of upper numbers. These are still preliminary data, and it remains to be too early to verify whether or not they signal a turning point and should indicate a bent for deforestation to diminish. Then again, the Cerrado registered record deforestation in April.

There are problems in all places within the economy and politics that Lula may have to face. In the primary week of the brand new term, on Jan. 8, we saw an revolt in Brasília, the country’s capital, from Bolsonaro voters who wouldn’t accept the election results. The events resembled what Americans saw within the Capitol attacks in 2021. We also appear to have imported problems from the USA, like mass killings in schools. We never used to have them in Brazil, but we’re seeing them now. I’m curious to see how the country will address those problems and if the U.S. can even encourage solutions to that. That’s something I’m interested by, being here: Are there solutions here? What are they?

Q: What have you ever learned to date from MIT and your fellowship?

A: It’s hard to place all the things into words! I’m mostly taking courses and attending lectures on pressing issues to humanity, like existential threats comparable to climate change, artificial intelligence, biosecurity, and more.

I’m learning about all these issues, but additionally, as a journalist, I feel that I’m learning more about how I can incorporate the scientific approach into my work; for instance, being more pro-positive. I’m already a rigorous journalist, but I’m interested by how I will be more rigorous and more transparent about my methods. Being in the educational and scientific environment is inspiring that way.

I’m also learning rather a lot about learn how to cover scientific topics and interested by how technology can offer us solutions (and problems). I’m learning a lot that I feel I’ll need a while to digest and fully understand what this era means for me!

Q: You mentioned artificial intelligence. Would you prefer to weigh in on this subject and what you’ve gotten been learning?

A: It has been a very good semester to be at MIT. Generative artificial intelligence, which became more popular after ChatGPT, has been a subject of intense discussion this semester, and I used to be capable of attend many classes, seminars, and events about AI here, especially from a policy perspective.

Algorithms have influenced the economy, society, and public health for a few years. It has had great outcomes, but additionally injustice. Popular systems like ChatGPT have made this technology incredibly popular and accessible, even for those with no computer knowledge. This is horrifying and, at the identical time, very exciting. Here, I learned that we want guardrails for artificial intelligence, identical to other technologies. Consider the pharmaceutical or automobile industries, which have to satisfy safety criteria before putting a recent product available on the market. But with artificial intelligence, it’ll be different; supply chains are very complex and sometimes not very transparent, and the speed at which recent resources develop is so fast that it challenges the policymaker’s ability to reply.

Artificial intelligence is changing the world radically. It’s exciting to have the privilege of being here and seeing these discussions happen. In any case, I actually have a future to report on. At the very least, I hope so!

Q: What are you working on going forward?

A: After MIT, I’m going to Recent York, where I will be working with of their internship program. I’m really enthusiastic about that because it’s going to be a special pace from MIT. I’m also doing research on carbon credit markets and hope to proceed that project, either in a reporting or academic environment. 

Truthfully, I feel inspired to maintain studying. I’d like to spend more time here at MIT. I’d like to do a master’s or join any program here. I’m going to work on coming back to academia because I feel that I would like to learn more from the educational environment. I hope that it’s at MIT because truthfully, it’s essentially the most exciting environment that I’ve ever been in, with all of the people here from different fields and different backgrounds. I’m not a scientist, nevertheless it’s inspiring to be with them, and if there is a way that I could contribute to their work in a way that they are contributing to my work, I will be thrilled to spend more time here.