by Brittney Melton

May 24, 2026

Good morning. This week, the San Francisco Symphony appointed Elim Chan as music director, making her the first woman to lead one of the “Big 7” orchestras, Stephen Colbert’s late night show came to an end, and the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations withdrew his bid for a vice president role at the U.N. General Assembly.

How communities can reduce climate emissions

by Julia Simon, NPR’s Climate Solutions correspondent

Last month, I traveled to Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first international conference for a transition away from fossil fuels.

In a hotel nestled between the turquoise Caribbean Sea and green mountains, more than 50 countries showed up to figure out how to speed up the transition away from oil, gas, and coal.

Burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of climate change. The countries at this conference want to move their economies away from these polluting energy sources. They included the United Kingdom, France, and major fossil fuel producers like Nigeria, Australia and Mexico.

One country that was not present was the United States.

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The Trump administration has spent the last 16 months putting up roadblocks for climate action. When asked why the U.S. would not attend the conference, a spokesperson for the state department told NPR in an email that “the president has been clear that the United States will not participate in the bogus climate agenda."

But a representative from the state of California was in Colombia. In fact, several representatives from cities from other countries came to the climate conference — even when their federal governments didn’t send anyone.

So often the focus of climate solutions stories is on federal actors. They are important. Scientists say that coordinated actions from countries are necessary to quickly reduce planet heating emissions.

But policies around things like energy policy, transportation, and building codes are often implemented at the state and municipal level. These things have a huge impact on emissions.

I spoke to Nate Hultman, director of the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland, about his research on local climate solutions. He and his team have found that climate actions from states and cities in the U.S. do in fact drive down emissions when you add them up.

“We have this kind of national story that seems very monolithic with the president doing a lot of things around climate and energy,” Hultman told me. Still, he said, “there's all this kind of driving force for action that's happening at the sub-national level and it's not small in terms of scale.”

Every year, NPR and the NPR network dedicate a week to showcasing climate solutions. In past years, we’ve focused on climate solutions found in food and housing. This year, we decided to focus on local climate solutions. These are stories about how communities are stepping up as the federal government rolls back climate policies.

Throughout the week, NPR and the NPR Network have brought you stories of cities, states, and neighborhoods coming together to reduce climate emissions and make their communities more resilient.

KUER’s David Condos in Utah took us to communities across his state, which have joined to build renewable energy.

Montana Public Radio’s Ellis Juhlin told us about tribes coming together to fulfill their climate action plans.

NPR’s Lauren Frayer brought us face-to-face with a charismatic mammal that’s helping British communities be more resilient to climate change.

And I spoke with host Ayesha Roscoe on The Sunday Story about city-level solutions, and climate solutions on the neighborhood-level.

You can read and listen to these Climate Solutions Week stories and more, only on NPR.

Check out more great reads from the NPR network you may have missed:

➡️ Over the next three years, NPR will regularly speak with a dozen swing voters in swing states as part of a project aimed at understanding which issues will be crucial in the upcoming elections. The Swing Shift project focuses on these voters because they help decide elections, particularly in an increasingly polarized United States. NPR has agreed not to use participants' full names in order to allow them to express their political views more openly. In the first installment of the project, NPR spoke with Gerald and Wally, two Black men who live in Georgia. Both grew up voting for Democrats, but voted for President Trump in 2024. They now have strikingly different perspectives on his performance.
➡️ A growing number of special educators are using artificial intelligence to speed up the mountains of legally required paperwork that often contribute to their burnout. Research has warned of the privacy, legal and ethical risks of using AI — but it suggests that, when used appropriately, AI could help teachers spend more time with students.
➡️ For many Americans, the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and the outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship have evoked painful memories of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID introduced Americans to the impact of global health emergencies, and public health experts say it's coloring how people think about Ebola and hantavirus. Scientists say they do not anticipate another pandemic stemming from these diseases. While fears about exotic diseases have always existed, people are now more aware of how pandemics can disrupt their lives. Here’s what to know about the differences between Ebola, hantavirus and COVID-19, along with tips for interpreting alarming headlines and social media posts.
➡️ Critics of spyware, which can be used to hack phones and has been abused repeatedly by governments worldwide, are worried that the Trump administration is slowly reversing a previous hard-line stance against the industry. Spyware tools have been used by governments to spy on political opponents, diplomats, human rights activists and journalists. Under the Biden administration, the former president imposed blacklists and sanctions on certain spyware companies, issued an executive order to restrict the government's use of commercial spyware and led an international agreement with democratic nations to address misuse. Privacy advocates are worried that the Trump administration's stance on spyware could allow agencies access to American citizens' devices as part of surveillance operations that currently do not require a warrant. Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that some agents had been approved to use a spyware tool capable of accessing encrypted messages. As ICE expands its surveillance tools and targets immigrants and protesters, Congress is debating the need for additional protections for American citizens.

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Pod Club

Indicator hosts Wailin Wong and Darian Woods hold a "Human Creator" sign certifying The Indicator is made without AI during a live Planet Money event in Toronto.

Eugene Grichko/NPR

Thanks for tuning in last week to the Short Wave episode about a recent study in which researchers gave salmon cocaine ... for science. Scientists understand that human medications contaminate aquatic environments. “This was very interesting to listen to, plus I also went back and read portions for a better understanding,” NPR listener Sylvia Bencomo says. She mentioned that it raised interesting questions about how much of these drugs and byproducts enter our bodies when we consume fish.

Today, listen to an episode of The Indicator from Planet Money about how some artists are seeking human verification for their work in an age of AI slop. The podcast features novelist Ned Hayes, who has developed a method for human artists to distinguish themselves in a landscape dominated by AI art. Plus, the podcast hosts also prove that the episode is entirely created by humans. Listen to the episode, or read the transcript.

Do you think you could tell the difference between AI and human-made art? Listen to the episode, and let us know why you feel that way. Your response could appear in next week's Sunday newsletter.

Love podcasts? For handpicked episode recommendations every week, check out Pod Club — a newsletter written FOR podcast fans BY podcast fans. Subscribe here!

Two words, one anagram

The words "Sunday Puzzle" over a white background. The name "Will Shortz" is under the Sunday Puzzle title, etched into red dice.

NPR

It's time for the Sunday Puzzle! For this week’s on-air challenge, NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz will provide you with made-up two-word phrases in which each word has five letters. You will have to rearrange the letters in one of these words to complete a familiar two-word phrase. You will have to decide which word to anagram. For example, if you are provided with the clue “APPLE DICER,” the answer would be “apple cider.” Test your skills here. Check the page later to hear the answers, or catch them live on Weekend Edition at 8:41 a.m. ET.

This week's online challenge comes from Jim Francis, of Kirkland, Wash. Think of a famous female singer (eight and four letters, respectively). The first syllable of her first name, the second syllable of her first name backward and the last name forward again are all verbs associated with human desire. Who is this singer? Submit your answer here, and you could win a chance to play next Sunday's on-air puzzle.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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