Ben Parfitt
Ben Parfitt is a Victoria-based journalist and has written on water, energy, forestry and climate issues for many years. He is also a long-time analyst with the B.C. Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He is the author of a book of essays, Forest Follies: Adventures and Misadventures in the Great Canadian Forest. He is also coauthor of Forestopia: A Practical Guide to the New Forest Economy (with Michael M’Gonigle), and Sturgeon Reach: Shifting Currents at the Heart of the Fraser (with Terry Glavin). His writing has appeared in numerous B.C. newspapers, magazines and on-line publications as well as national media outlets. He has received awards for his writing work from the Canadian Association of Investigative Journalists and the Jack Webster Foundation among others. When not writing, he likes to bike and hike and listen to records.
Stories by Ben Parfitt
The absurd practice of cutting down B.C. forests just to burn them must end
4 min. readBritish energy behemoth Drax denied logging old-growth forests to turn into wood pellets, but investigations...
Northeast B.C. at increased risk of powerful earthquakes from thousands of fracked gas wells, new research warns
In a newly published study, a former hydrologist with the provincial oil and gas regulator...
‘We must protect our water’: B.C. ranchers wage battle over radioactive fracking waste
As natural gas operations continue to encroach on farms and ranches in the province’s energy-rich...
Grand Forks flooding victims file class-action lawsuit against B.C. government, forestry companies
Excessive logging in British Columbia interior has ‘increased the frequency, duration and magnitude’ of floods,...
B.C. rarely inspects hazardous waste handlers despite companies frequently breaking rules
B.C. rarely inspects hazardous waste handlers even though the province knows companies routinely break the...
Why an Alberta court decision to quash an oilsands project affects Treaty Rights cases in B.C.
A recent ruling by three Appeal Court justices has transformed the nature of Treaty 8...
Up in smoke: B.C. backtracks on promise to deter logging industry from burning wood waste
Nearly three years ago the province promised to rein in the air pollution and unwanted...
B.C. cautiously opens tree-planting season with new coronavirus rules some say won’t protect remote communities
Wildfire, pine beetle and industrial logging have left some areas of the province vulnerable to...
B.C.’s most ambitious tree-planting season ever on the chopping block as coronavirus wreaks havoc
Industry rushes to come up with plan that will enable 5,000 tree planters to get...
