Ashley Ahearn is the host of the podcast Terrestrial, produced out of KUOW in Seattle. She also rides vintage motorcycles, snowboards, and hikes in the Pacific Northwest.
Ashley Ahearn is the host of terrestrial, a national podcast on the environment, produced out of KUOW in Seattle.
Ashley brings more than a decade of experience covering the environment at the local and national level. Her stories have appeared on Marketplace, Morning Edition, Here and Now, The World and other NPR and PRI shows. She holds a masters in science journalism from the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California.
Check out terrestrial at: http://kuow.org/terrestrial
When it comes to setting climate change policy in the US, kids don't have much of a voice because they can't vote. But they can go to court. So a group of 21 young people are suing the Trump Administration for failing to adequately tackle the climate crisis.
Low levels of snow melt in California and the Pacific Northwest could be harbinger of things to come, but one expert says the silver lining is that it gives officials a way to examine and prepare for global warming.
Snowpack is important for summer life in the Northwestin the winter, it accumulates on mountaintops and as temperatures rise, snowmelt recharges water systems and generates hydropower throughout the region. This year, snowpacks are at record lows and many fear that this supply wont be enough to last throughout the drought season. But as EarthFixs Ashley Ahearn reports, its not time to hit the panic button just yet.
Scientists continue to sound the alarm about some chemical exposures that may effect reproductive health and development. The endocrine disrupting chemical, atrazine has been found to feminize male frogs and is linked to an increased incidence of homosexual behavior.
Glaciers set the Pacific Northwest apart and are essential for the regions drinking water, hydropower and salmon survival. But as EarthFixs Ashley Ahearn reports, disappearing glaciers make the region uniquely vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
While the US is using less coal than we have in the past, we plan to export more coal to Asia. That means transporting it by trains, as we’ve done for decades. But there’s very little research on the effects coal has on the environment when it escapes from coal hoppers bumping along the rails.
With a proposals to bring coal by rail through the Pacific Northwest for export, some scientists worry that coal dust containing mercury might contaminate Washingtons wetlands, threatening wildlife. Reporter Ashley Ahearn treks through mashes and muck near railways with USGS scientists as they look for coal dusts potential impacts on wetland ecosystems.
The National Park Service has finally removed two dams that blocked the Elwha River for over a century in Washingtons Olympic Peninsula. The river now flows freely, opening it up for salmon, otters, bears and rafters. Ashley Ahearn of EarthFix takes us for a ride down the river.
Highly flammable and explosive crude oil from the Bakken Shale of North Dakota is shipped by rail, much of it by BNSF Railways. An investigation by Oregon Public Broadcasting unearthed charges that the railroad carrier mishandles safety issues for its trains.
One of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, BNSF, transports much of the countrys oil supplies, so safety is paramount. However BNSF management has forced workers to skip critical safety checks, and has fired employees for not complying. Ashley Ahearn reports from the State of Washington.
On the Pacific coast, the largest documented marine epidemic in human history is unfolding — and some beloved ocean-dwellers are in serious trouble.