Breathing Heat: What May 2025 Tells Us About Our Changing Climate

May 2025 was the second-warmest May ever recorded, with global temperatures averaging 1.10 °C above the 20th-century norm. It feels like every month a new record is broken for how severe our climate change is getting.

Author

Zachary Quintana

Date Published

5/25/25

May 2025 was a month of records and warnings. Data released by NOAA confirmed it as the second-warmest May on record, with global temperatures averaging 1.10 °C above the 20th-century baseline. For many communities, this wasn’t just a number on a chart — it was a lived experience of blistering heatwaves, stressed crops, and worsening air quality.

Alongside the record temperatures came a sobering scientific reminder. A new study from MIT revealed that climate change could make it harder to reduce ground-level ozone, the key ingredient in smog. Even if we cut emissions, warming itself accelerates the chemical processes that create ozone, meaning our cities could face dirtier, more dangerous air as the planet heats. The intersection of these findings is clear: rising temperatures and rising pollution form a feedback loop that puts both ecosystems and human health at risk.

For me, this isn’t an abstract global problem — it connects directly to the local work I’ve been doing through PUNT (Picking Up Neighborhood Trash). Every time my team and I haul plastics and wrappers out of creeks or parks, we see how pollution doesn’t just sit in landfills. It breaks down into smaller particles, it leaches into water, and it becomes part of the very air we breathe. Climate change magnifies this cycle: hotter days mean more smog, more stress on ecosystems, and more urgent reasons to rethink how we design products and manage waste.

The lesson of May 2025 is that climate change doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s entangled with pollution, policy, and everyday choices. Tackling one without the other won’t be enough. Whether it’s through global agreements or small community projects like PUNT, the challenge — and the opportunity — is to connect the dots. A warmer May is a warning, but it can also be a rallying cry: the future of the air we breathe is written in the actions we take today.

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