John Ryan
Environment Reporter
About
John Ryan joined KUOW as its first full-time investigative reporter in 2009 and became its environment reporter in 2018. He focuses on climate change, energy, and the ecosystems of the Puget Sound region. He has also investigated toxic air pollution, landslides, failed cleanups, and money in politics for KUOW.
Over a quarter century as an environmental journalist, John has covered everything from Arctic drilling to Indonesian reef bombing. He has been a reporter at NPR stations in southeast and southwest Alaska (KTOO-Juneau and KUCB-Unalaska) and at the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
John’s stories have won multiple national awards for KUOW, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi awards for Public Service in Radio Journalism and for Investigative Reporting, national Edward R. Murrow and PMJA/PRNDI awards for coverage of breaking news, and Society of Environmental Journalists awards for in-depth reporting.
John welcomes tips, documents, and feedback. Reach him at jryan@kuow.org or for secure, encrypted communication, he's at heyjohnryan@protonmail.com or 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, some Spanish, some Indonesian
Professional Affiliations: SAG-AFTRA union member and former shop steward; Society of Environmental Journalists member and mentor
Stories
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Environment
An ancient beach reborn — and renamed for a clam
Heading out through the mud to dig clams by hand, Holden was following the footsteps of his ancestors who were doing the same thing in the same spot 1,100 years ago.
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Environment
Green airplanes? Not on the horizon yet
Kicking aviation’s climate-harming carbon habit is likely to be a long, slow climb, made more difficult as the industry expands rapidly.
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Jay Inslee says he’s the climate candidate. So let’s look at his record
In a Washington Post op-ed, Inslee called for an end to carbon pollution by mid-century, but in the Washington that he actually leads, he has only worked to cut pollution in half by that time.
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Environment
Another climate foe: energy-guzzling buildings
Wasting less energy as we heat and power buildings could take a big bite out of our carbon footprint and help stave off catastrophic climate change.
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Environment
Seattle’s carbon emissions keep rising, and city keeps calling itself a climate leader
Seattleites did 2.5 percent more harm to the climate in 2016 than they did in 2014, according to the city’s most comprehensive measure of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Environment
Amazon will reveal its carbon footprint ... a decade after others
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Environment
Why salt became king in Seattle snowstorms
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Environment
Snowpocalypse leaves some residents hauling their own trash
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Environment
Whale watchers need to stay farther away from endangered orcas, legislators propose
The Washington state House of Representatives on Tuesday looked into restricting the whale watching industry to help save the region's endangered orcas.
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Environment
The day the volcano meters went dark (because of the federal shutdown)
For close to 6 hours, our region was nearly blind to what was happening inside our backyard volcanoes.