Marc Fawcett-Atkinson

Reporter Vancouver English, French

food security, Agriculture, fishing, toxics, shell fish industry, farming, climate change

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.

292 Articles

Who benefits from Ottawa’s plan to tackle food insecurity?

On grocery store shelves in Iqaluit, Nunavut, it is hard to find enough lettuce for a family-sized salad for less than 10 bucks. In more remote parts of the northern territory, basic items like an eight-pack of juice — or a handful of fresh veggies — can go for nearly $40.

News | March 23rd 2023

The B.C.-based Very Good Food Company, once a darling of Canada's plant-based meat scene, closed last month, prompting worries about the industry's future. Photo provided by Mitchell Scott

The collapse of the Very Good Food Company

Late last month, Mitchell Scott watched from afar as the company he had nurtured from a farmer's market vegan "butcher" shop to a darling of Canada's nascent plant-based meat industry collapsed.

News | March 17th 2023

Cross-country flights, confidentiality affidavits and handwritten notes. One woman’s Byzantine quest to see Ottawa’s pesticide data

When Sheryl McCumsey set out to learn about the health and environmental impacts of pesticides used in Canada, she did not expect a wild goose chase.

News | March 14th 2023

Illustration by Ata Ojani for Canada's National Observer

White men are the super spreaders of climate denialism

There is a tight relationship between harmful forms of masculinity, right-wing extremism and the refusal to deal with the climate crisis.

Climate of denial

News | March 7th 2023

Children play at the site of Synergraze's proposed seaweed-growing factory. The company issued carbon offset credits to Trans Mountain Corporation in 2021, but its project Tuesday was denied permission to proceed. Photo provided by Shandelle Conrad

Are the carbon credits Trans Mountain bought now worth less than cow burps?

Trans Mountain's decision to buy voluntary offset credits from a startup like Synergraze is "super problematic," said Kate Ervine, a professor at Saint Mary's University. But even purchasing government-regulated carbon credits wouldn't outweigh the climate impact of Trans Mountain's push to expand oil pipeline infrastructure during the climate crisis.

News | February 23rd 2023

Researchers have found that adding some types of seaweed to cattle feed can help reduce the methane emitted from their gut. Photo by Jesse Winter/National Observer

Debt-plagued Trans Mountain Corp. bought carbon credits from obscure seaweed cattle feed company that isn’t operating

Trans Mountain Corporation purchased carbon credits from a tiny, non-functioning Alberta startup proposing to produce seaweed-based additives that reduce methane emissions from cows, Canada's National Observer has found.

News | February 21st 2023

The thin green line — where disinformation meets greenwashing

For nearly 50 years, the push to discredit climate science and transform responses to the crisis into a political hot potato has successfully delayed policies to reduce oil and gas production and greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate of denial

News, Climate Solutions Reporting | February 21st 2023

After plenty of hype, McDonald's last year ended its trial of plant-based burgers, raising doubts that plant-based proteins will overtake meat with market forces alone. Photo by Alison Boulier/National Observer

University chef holds firm for the climate on meatless Mondays

Tony Heesterman, the University of Victoria's executive chef, has zero patience for students who complain about campus-wide meatless Mondays.

News | January 30th 2023

Documents show that Canada's pesticide regulator repeatedly ignored red flags raised by its own scientists about the health risks posed by the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Photo by Shutterstock

Health Canada downplayed the risks of a toxic pesticide. Is that the ‘tip of the iceberg’?

Critics are calling for better oversight of Canada's pesticide regulator following revelations the agency repeatedly ignored red flags raised by its own scientists about the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

News | January 25th 2023

Health Canada downplayed scientific concerns about risks of toxic pesticide that causes birth defects

Canada's pesticide regulator repeatedly ignored red flags raised by its own scientists about the health risks posed by the pesticide chlorpyrifos, stalling a review of the pesticide for close to 20 years, documents obtained by the environmental group Ecojustice reveal.

News | January 23rd 2023