Kate Wheeling is a staff writer at Pacific Standard, where she specializes in criminal justice and the environment. She was previously an associate editor and editorial fellow at Pacific Standard. Wheeling has a bachelor's degree in behavioral neuroscience and a master's in science journalism. She has also written for Outside, Science, and Discover magazine.
The Trump administration pointed at China, Indonesia, and others as the main source of trash in our oceans, but the U.S. and other wealthy nations contribute to the problem.
President Trump mentioned clean air, emissions, and the Green New Deal, but failed to bring up climate change at his environmental event Monday.
A new study shows that poor air quality has reduced the amount of sunlight reaching China's solar installations, undermining the country's renewable energy efforts.
Following Europe's lead, a U.S. insurer has announced plans to phase out coal coverage.
After DNC chair Tom Perez promised the issue would "feature prominently" in the debates, climate activists were disappointed by how little attention it got.
The Democratic Party refused to host a single issue climate debate, but as 20 presidential candidates square off in Miami this week, the topic is expected to be discussed.
Ahead of the Democratic debates, Washington Governor Jay Inslee releases another slew of climate policies targeting fossil fuel production.
The coastal city is the first major metropolitan area in India to deal with such an extreme water shortage, but several large cities around the world may soon face a similar crisis.
The Trump administration's replacement for Obama's signature climate rule is meant to be a lifeline for the nation's coal-fired power plants, but it may be too late.
Outages were intended to be a last resort in PG&E's wildfire mitigation plan, but it has already used them twice during the first weekend of California's wildfire season.
The president wants to limit the scope of federal climate assessments, which will leave policymakers and the public unprepared to deal with the consequences of climate change.
The fossil fuel industry is pushing lawmakers to implement a tax on carbon emissions, but environmentalists are skeptical of its newfound support for climate action.
When it comes to climate change, the Department of Defense has historically focused on preparation rather than prevention.
A new report from the Environmental Working Group claims that Duke Energy, the nation's largest utility, is holding back the transition away from fossil fuels.
As conservative opinion shifts, lawmakers like Matt Gaetz and Lamar Alexander have put forward solutions that focus on "innovation" at the expense of regulation.
The Democratic candidate's first policy proposal calls for an end to tax breaks for the fossil fuel industry.
A new book chronicles the rise of extreme air pollution—and the fixes that are helping to clean up the atmosphere
California's cities have long been plagued by smog, but now some of the state's cleanest air is being polluted by smoke from climate change-fueled wildfires.
A global energy policy expert explains why one of the most oil-rich countries in the world is investing in nuclear and why Congress is concerned.
Republicans in Congress have criticized progressives' Green New Deal as an impractical, ludicrous, or even dangerous plan. What are they offering in its place?
The Three Mile Island partial meltdown led the U.S. away from nuclear. Global warming might bring it back.
The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to allow seismic airgun testing to begin off the Atlantic coast while a lawsuit to prevent the practice works its way through the courts.
And as usual, it's the communities that are least responsible for it that suffer the most.
Antelope in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park became more daring after civil war ravaged the predator population. A new study tracks the impact that's had.
Researchers have found that the most tornado-prone region of the country is shifting east, but they can't say how much global warming is to blame.
A new study shows that marine heat waves have become more frequent and more severe as ocean temperatures have climbed.
There are important distinctions to make between the two when it comes to policy resolutions like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, however.
Environmental law experts say the presidential powers unlocked by declaring a national emergency are the wrong tools for solving the climate crisis.
After a circuit court ordered the removal of a citizenship question from the census, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the case. On Friday, the high court agreed.
More than two years after Valley Water Management Company settled with environmental groups to halt discharges at two facilities where wastewater seeped into groundwater, Race Track Hill and Fee 34 are finally closed.
While a national debate about whether or not to arm teachers rages on, hundreds of school districts across the country have been allowing staff to carry weapons on school property for years.
Trump is citing the polar vortex descending on the Midwest as evidence against climate change. Why is this faulty logic so common?
A series of recent studies and reports suggest that, without immediate and drastic action, the worst-case climate scenario will become the rule rather than the exception.
Accurate weather forecasts can provide strong economic benefits to Americans and save lives—but only if weather data remains accessible.
Pacific Standard asked civil rights experts to share their picks of the most essential literature on the movement.
The WHO has named vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 public-health threats of 2019. Here's how the anti-vaccination movement came about, and what to do about it.
Already the largest oil and gas producer in the world, the United States is expected to ramp up oil production more than any other nation in the coming decades.
The former coal lobbyist, who has been a champion of Trump's deregulatory agenda without any of the ethical scandals of his predecessor, is all but guaranteed a confirmation.
A new study finds that people who watch body camera footage attribute less blame to police officers involved in incidents than if those same officers were caught on dash cams.
The Trump administration has been systematically rolling back environmental regulations, and now carbon emissions are up across every sector in America.
In his inaugural address, Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to tackle homelessness, criminal justice reform, and inequality.
In his first speech as governor of California, Gavin Newsom reiterated all of his ambitious campaign promises.
A new study finds that installing solar panels on snow-covered mountains could help close the gap between demand and production during the winter months.
Showers, now a mainstay of our daily routines, were once a cure for insanity and criminality.
In the final hours of COP24, human rights activists lament that nations still consider human rights a bargaining chip in climate negotiations.
Environmentalists are concerned that Poland's declaration could be used as an excuse to continue burning coal.
Climate advocates respond to a Shell executive's claim that the oil giant influenced the text of the Paris Agreement.
For the second year in a row, climate advocates disrupted the U.S. government's attempts to promote coal and other fossil fuels at the United Nations climate conference.
