Arno Kopecky, 2022 Magazine Award Winner
Arno Kopecky has been a full time freelance journalist and author for over fifteen years. After graduating from the University of Victoria in 2001 with a double major in Creative Writing and Environmental Studies, he spent two years in Spain teaching English and studying Spanish. His first reporting internship, was at a Spanish-language daily in Oaxaca, Mexico, followed by internships at Harper’s in New York and The Walrus in Toronto.
In 2005 he published his first cover story for The Walrus, about Iceland’s attempt to become the first oil-free country on earth. He has also published three books of literary nonfiction in the past decade: The Devil’s Curve, which examined the impact of Canadian mining companies on local in South America; The Oil Man and the Sea (shortlisted for a 2014 Governor General’s Award), which chronicled the First Nations-led fight to keep oil tankers out of BC’s northern coast; and The Environmentalist’s Dilemma, a collection of reported essays examining the link between human prosperity and environmental collapse.
Arno's winning article is called “Three Days in the Theatre of Old-Growth Logging and Protest”. The article was published by Hakai Magazine in collaboration with the online publication The Tyee. His article details a series of protests and blockades to forestry operations within the Fairy Creek watershed, on Southern Vancouver Island. Much of Fairy Creek features old-growth forests in the Pacheedaht Territory.
Arno details the multiple viewpoints of the Pacheedaht First Nations, the Rainforest Flying Squad protesters, the BC Government, and the Teal-Jones Group, owners of the timber license for the area. The article also provides an insightful historical perspective on these forestry operations that have been active since the 19th century.
In all his stories, his aim is to illuminate how social justice is
inextricable from environmental sustainability.
@arno_kopecky
Hakai Magazine Winning Article here -
hakaimagazine.com/features/three-days-in-the-theater-of-old-growth-logging-and-protest
