John Ryan
Reporter
About
John Ryan joined KUOW as its first full-time investigative reporter in 2009 and took on the environment beat 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 a Society of Environmental Journalists award for in-depth reporting.
He is a shop steward for KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA newsroom union and believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
John welcomes tips, documents and feedback from listeners. 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
Professional Affiliations: SAG-AFTRA shop steward
Stories
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Scenic Tacoma road permanently closed to cars. Blame climate change
Crumbling cliffs have led Metro Parks Tacoma to permanently close two miles of Five Mile Drive, a popular park road built atop the bluffs of Tacoma’s Point Defiance 109 years ago.
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KUOW Newsroom
Looking for an electric vehicle? Here’s why they’re hard to find in Washington
Automakers have shifted deliveries of the climate-friendly vehicles to states with better incentives for selling clean cars.
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KUOW Newsroom
Seattle fish research could shake up global tire industry
Research from the Seattle area has found that tires shed a fish-killing chemical into local streams.
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KUOW Newsroom
Kelp has protected Samish people for millennia. Now it needs their help
Scuba divers are heading underwater to help rescue one of the most important habitats in Puget Sound.
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KUOW Newsroom
Scientists race to rescue world’s fastest sea star from oblivion
Scientists are racing to revive a critically endangered species that has succumbed to a mysterious underwater pandemic up and down the West Coast.
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KUOW Newsroom
Amazon.com's pollution grows despite massive green energy push
Amazon says a major investment in green power plants will help the company run its operations on 100% clean electricity by 2025.
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Biden unveils protection plan for old-growth forest during Seattle visit
On Friday, President Joe Biden visited Seattle’s Seward Park to announce and sign an executive order meant to protect old-growth forests on federal lands.
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KUOW Newsroom
Olympic Peninsula glaciers expected to disappear in the next 50 years
Devoting your life to something that is disappearing can be tough.
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KUOW Newsroom
Covid sewage data kept under wraps despite possible public health benefits
Looking for Covid in wastewater can serve as an early warning system for outbreaks -- at least in theory.
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KUOW Newsroom
New highways headed to Seattle area despite drive to fight climate change
Even as Washington state tries to clamp down on climate-harming pollution, it’s building new highways in its two biggest counties.