Bios
Ben Parfitt
Freelance writer and researcher Ben Parfitt lives in Victoria. He is a frequent writer and commentator on natural resource, business, environmental and social justice issues for a variety of publications and author of Forest Follies: Adventures and Misadventures in the Great Canadian Forest.
Stories by Ben Parfitt
Down the Drain Goes Public's Right to Know about Fracking
BC gov't ignores own pledge to consult citizens, grants Talisman's request for big water use.
How to Create Green Jobs in BC's Forests
Sure, China's a hot market for our raw logs. But the world wants wood products we could make.
BC's Strange Business of Carbon Offsets
Hospitals and schools must pay the Pacific Carbon Trust, but what are they really buying?
The Wild West and Dysfunctional BC Politics
Fracking and sour gas deserve debate, but get cartoon treatment from the Clark government.
About Fracking Time for an Investigation
Independent MLAs call on premier to probe dangers of hydraulic fracturing in gas fields.
Our Water Secretly Sucked Away by Shale Gas Industry
Beyond public scrutiny, vast amounts of BC's water are being dealt to 'fracking' operations.
Buzz Sawed: BC's Forest Service
Deep staffing cuts have severed the agency's link to 21 communities. Time for an independent commission.
Time for a Forest Land Reserve
And more ways to make right the Western Forest Products land flip.
Cutting Back on Adding Value
Quesnel mill that creates jobs with marginal timber is squeezed by softwood reform.
Sowing More Devastation
BC created a doomed monoculture of pine. We're re-growing a lot of the same.
What Price the Beetle?
The Cariboo-Chilcotin region alone wants $489 million. Victoria commits to far less.
Up In Smoke?
Gold rush hype can overestimate reserves in B.C.. Worse, drilling fast and furiously can harm output in the long run. Witness the incredible shrinking Ladyfern find.
Demanding a Say in the Boom
TYEE SPECIAL REPORT Who controls the flow of B.C.'s energy wealth? An historic law suit pits B.C.'s only Metis community against Canada's largest oil and gas producer.
Who's Saving for after the Boom?
As B.C piles up oil and gas revenues, we aren't yet following Alberta's and Alaska's lead by saving billions of dollars for tomorrow.
No Way Out
Women in poverty fleeing abusive mates used to get free legal help in B.C. Now their escape is blocked, after the government slashed Legal Services and closed 65 offices. A Tyee investigative report.
- Appeal court upholds ruling on protection of orca habitat
- Foreign takeover score is 14,218 to two calculates Mel Hurtig, who speaks Saturday
- Abbott blames teachers' union, hints at legislation
- Greens exaggerating fracking fears 'to control you': Santorum
- Prime Minister Harper mixes oil with human rights on visit to China
- Civil jury finds former BC premier Vander Zalm guilty of defamation
- Vancouver theatre runs down curtain on section of BC's outdated liquor laws
- BC Premier Clark to replace throne speech with radio appearance
- 'The Kids Are All Right'
- 'Leave Your Shoes On'
- Glaciers, BC Hydro's Melting 'Batteries'
- Frankie Rose Makes Life Tougher for Journalists
- Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
- Becoming the Ethical Hunter
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Could SOPA Pervade Canadian Copyright Law?
- Three Ryan Gosling Pickup Techniques that Don't Work in Real Life
- Would You Buy a Used Car from These Libs?
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Economist Calls Gateway Pipeline an Inflationary 'Threat'
- Bill Rees' Last Lecture
- Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
- Is Canada Ignoring Signs of a Coming Economic Collapse?
- Harper in China
- How First Nations Are Gearing Up for Legal Battle Against Gateway
- Eleven Oily Questions for Every MP
- Remembering Lloyd Dykk's Wit, Generosity and Superb Prose
- BC Child Care Advocates in Geneva to Complain to UN
- BC, You Love You
- Shadow Workers of the World, Revolt!
- Who Pays Huge Power Bills for Clark's Gas Plants?
- Make It the Canadian Webcasting Corporation
- Harper in China
- When the Prize Is a Chance to Toil on BC's Farms
- Three Ryan Gosling Pickup Techniques that Don't Work in Real Life
- Would You Buy a Used Car from These Libs?
- Time to Zip John Baird's Loose Lips
- Foreign Trade Zones Eyed for Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Prince George
- Board, BC mayors make the case for Vancouver transit audit
- Tensions flare over Vancouver-owned mine in Oaxaca
- Osoyoos Times editor apologizes for comments on RCMP
- BC premier delivers talk show 'throne speech'
- NDP leadership: Thomas Mulcair ahead on first ballot, internal poll suggests
- Sky is the limit for use of mini, unmanned planes
- Prime Minister by day, oil exec by night
- Animal-made 'art' challenges human monopoly on creativity
