
Jacob Pederson
Jacob Pederson is a junior at Western Washington University majoring in Environmental Journalism with a minor in Political Science. So far he has been on the quarterly President’s List twice for his outstanding GPA. He is part of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS), from which he won the Student of the Year Scholarship Award, and the NSCS Honor Cord. Jacob writes for the student-led Planet Magazine at Western, does stories for KMRE Community Powered Radio, and runs his own Environmental Journalism website. He seeks to be a career environmental journalist.
Recent Work

Disaster relief efforts following Hurricane Hanna’s arrival on the coast of Texas last week are going well despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, according to the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Hurricane Hanna hit Texas with winds of almost 50 miles per hour... Read More

A federal court has ruled that California’s coordination with the Canadian province of Quebec to reduce greenhouse gas emission does not violate the U.S. Constitution, shooting down the last surviving element of a challenge by the Trump administration. In 2006, California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a... Read More

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration has proclaimed 2020 is on track to be the hottest year on record. This past June was the 44th in a row that saw hotter than average temperatures, the agency said last week. It was 1.66°F above the 20th century... Read More

The Interior Department is dropping plans to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades in Washington State, citing the concerns of people who live and work in the area. The move has alarmed environmentalists who say the decision threatens the future of the bears and the... Read More

President Donald Trump announced he is loosening the National Environmental Policy Act in a bid to speed up permitting of federal infrastructure projects ranging from highway upgrades to the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines. The president announced the final changes to the rule at... Read More

The Environmental Protection Agency is on track to complete a review of air quality standards against a backdrop of ozone concentrations dropping nationwide. The EPA, by rule, endeavors to complete regular air quality standard reviews within a five-year time frame, but often take much longer to... Read More

After waging a pitched, months-long battle against the coronavirus, New York City is now stepping up its efforts to protect its residents from a more familiar adversary -- the onset of summer heat wave season. Even without a global pandemic, scorching summer temperatures in big cities... Read More

The Utah Board of Education has received a shipment of 500,000 face masks it plans to distribute to students and teachers as they return to school in the fall. The collection of masks is the latest manifestation of Gov. Gary Herbert’s Masks for Every Utahn Program,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The White House proposed Thursday to open more than two-thirds of the nation’s largest piece of public land to oil and gas drilling, striking down wildlife protections in the area that have been in place for more than 40 years. The Interior Department’s Bureau... Read More

The economic fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak is worsening the strain on city and county health departments that have been tasked with doing more with less resources since the 2008 recession, an updated report from the National Association of County and City Health Officials says. Over... Read More

Climate change is increasing the likelihood of low birth weights, premature births, and stillbirths in minority communities, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study’s authors said while they found detrimental impacts to to pregnancy among all populations,... Read More

With public transportation offline in some areas and alternatives like Uber being a little too close for comfort due to the coronavirus outbreak, a growing number of city residents are looking at municipal bike share programs to get around. However, even here, questions abound: How do... Read More

Global demand for fish has reached an all-time high despite the economic and supply challenges posed by COVID-19. This year, the world consumed enough fish for every man, woman, and child on the planet to have about 45 pounds each. At over 197 million tons total,... Read More