John Ryan
Reporter
About
Environment reporter John Ryan welcomes tips, documents and feedback from listeners. For secure, confidential communication: he's at 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app, you can use KUOW’s SecureDrop portal, or you can send snail mail (but don't put your return address on the outside!) to John Ryan, KUOW, 4518 Univ. Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
Good thing John was a clumsy traveler.
Otherwise his cheap microcassette recorder wouldn't have fallen out of his pocket in an Indonesian taxi, a generous BBC stringer wouldn't have lent him some recording gear, and he wouldn't have gotten the radio bug. But after pointing a mic at rare jungle songbirds and gong-playing grandmothers for his first radio story, there was no turning back.
He spent several years freelancing for most of the major public radio news shows (as well as newspapers including Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times). John also did an award-winning documentary for KUOW on the side from a day gig covering transportation at the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
In 2009, John moved back to Seattle to become KUOW’s first investigative reporter after two exciting years covering avalanches, political intrigue and just about everything in between for KTOO, the NPR station in Alaska's capital city. He returned to Alaska for a 4-month stint in the Aleutian Islands in 2015 and won awards for KUOW and KUCB-Unalaska for his coverage of Arctic oil drilling from two states.
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 and national Edward R. Murrow and PRNDI awards for coverage of breaking news.
John is a shop steward of KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA newsroom union.
He believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
To see more of John's past KUOW work, visit our archive site.
Stories
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Carbon problem gets worse in WA — despite 'climate hawk' governor
Gov. Jay Inslee has made fighting climate change a priority throughout his career and his positioning himself as a climate-driven candidate for president.
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And baby makes 75: newborn orca boosts endangered whale population
Whale researchers spotted a baby orca swimming energetically with its mother west of San Juan Island on Friday.
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Electric ferries are cleaner and quieter. But for orcas, that might not be enough
Gov. Jay Inslee wants the state legislature to pay for two new electric ferries this year and to convert two others.
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Another 'peanut head' as endangered orca loses fat around blowhole
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Sea lion shootings: Federal crime or legal response to annoying animal?
“Every dead animal really has a story to tell us," she said, standing over the 800-pound carcass.
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Gov. Inslee proposes comprehensive orca recovery package
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Bold or tired? Inslee climate policy aims at decade-old goal
Inslee’s policy is not as ambitious as Seattle’s or California’s--and not in line with the latest climate science.
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Seattle’s public health enemy #1? Climate change
“This is the most significant health threat facing both our region and the world.”
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This little seabird lives in tall trees that Washington state may cut down
Marbled murrelets have one of the more bizarre daily routines in the avian world.
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Washington tribes oppose Canadian pipeline and more oil tankers in Salish Sea
“One of the many reasons our southern resident killer whales are about ready to go extinct.”