Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
Journalist | Vancouver |
English
French
About Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson is a reporter and writer covering food systems, climate, disinformation, and plastics and the environment for Canada’s National Observer.
His ongoing investigations of the plastic industry in Canada won him a Webster Award's nomination in environmental reporting in 2021. He was also a nominee for a Canadian Association of Journalists's award for his reporting on disinformation.
Marc has previously written for High Country News, the Literary Review of Canada, and other publications on topics exploring relationships between people and their social and physical environments.
He holds an M.A. in journalism from the University of British Columbia and a B.A. in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic.
B.C. ranchers push for more help in struggle to get their animals slaughtered
Julia Smith has a problem. Despite litters of fast-growing piglets and surging demand for her pork, she can’t find an abattoir that can slaughter them before December. Demand for local meat has surged during the pandemic, leaving the province’s abattoirs booked months in advance and many small-scale producers struggling.
From chicken to cod, B.C. universities look to buy local
Eating local on university campuses is often difficult, but it will soon be getting easier for many B.C. post-secondary students.
Home economics an overlooked part of the climate solution
From farm to fork and beyond, food is responsible for between 21 and 37 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Yet despite growing awareness that changing diets can help the climate, many people still don’t know how to eat more sustainably.
How robots can help with farmers’ mental health
Mickey Aylard used to wake up at 3 every morning and milk a hundred cows. Now, a robot does the job. Three years ago, the fourth-generation Saanich, B.C., dairy farmer installed an automatic milking system. It was a relief, she said, boosting her mental health and making life on the farm more sustainable.
Own a llama in B.C? Register it, province says
Last week, the provincial Ministry of Agriculture announced that starting next year, anyone rearing farm animals — everything from bees to llamas to cattle — in the province will need to register their property under the government’s Premises ID program.
Why so many Canadians are turning to the internet for nutrition advice
More than half of Canadians trust social media and blogs over doctors and nutritionists, according to a recent study.
Meet the Indigenous scientist charting the future of fisheries — one salmon at a time
Like most salmon scientists, Andrea Reid spends months each year searching for the iconic fish in salty estuaries and along the silty riverbanks of B.C.’s glacial torrents.
Why this Canadian company wants your used chopsticks
Last February, Felix Böck picked up a shipping container sent express from Disneyland and stuffed with a precious load: Single-use chopsticks the company couldn’t use because of a package design error.
Calls for mail-order booze in Canada echo century-old fight
John Skinner just wants to mail a case of his vineyard’s wine to family in Ontario — but can’t without breaking the law. For Okanagan winemakers like Skinner, that domestic trade barrier has been a further hindrance to business already slowed by the pandemic.
Bee species are in decline — and our food systems depend on them
Almost a quarter of the estimated 20,000 bee species on Earth may be in decline, researchers have found. The January study is the first time the well-being of pollinators has been assessed on a global scale, with previous concerns of declining wild pollinator populations based on local or regional studies.