I normally live and study in Maine. This semester, I’m studying in the bustling South Asian city of Kathmandu, Nepal. “So, you haven’t gotten back and you’re already talking about your time studying abroad?” Yes, I thought I would get a head start on telling everyone stories beginning with “while I was in Nepal.”

The reality is that “while I’m in Nepal” I’ve been spending a lot of time inside, looking out at the hazy sun, as air pollution soars to unhealthy levels. Advised to stay inside, I feel trapped like some foreigner Rapunzel character.

Inside, with too much respect for my lungs to leave, I’ve been thinking about the significance of on-the-ground effects in addressing environmental challenges. I naively chose to study abroad in Nepal because of the “cool mountains” and “maybe a chance to do Everest if my program has really loose student safety regulations.”

But, my expectations of the mountainous city were hidden, quite literally, by a thick layer of smog that covered the skies in Kathmandu, cutting off views of the Himalayas. I heard the mountains were covered because of air pollution, but I didn’t think much of it, and assumed that the people wearing masks “just hadn’t gotten over their COVID anxieties.”

In recent days, the air pollution has become hard to ignore. In Kathmandu, the AQI (air quality index) reached 352, classified as a hazardous level. Nepal’s Ministry of Health has urged the public to take high precautions. On my daily walk to the campus I study at, I cough loudly, as if I’ve been smoking a pack a day since, maybe, the age of 5. At night, I rub my crusted eyes and scratch my dry, red skin, as I generally feel like a poorly preserved corpse.

I, in typical American fashion, have taken every instance to complain about this. “How are you?” someone may ask, but instead of a simple response, I launch into a monologue on the new rashes that have appeared on my legs.

To some extent, air pollution is a bonding element amidst the language barrier, but more so, it has been motivating. Faced with the visible threat, Nepali groups are raising a larger conversation about the chronic air pollution and rapid industrialization in Kathmandu. Many are leading efforts to replace fuel-inefficient cars with more electric vehicles and increase cooperation and coordination among concerned agencies.

Back in Maine, last year’s warm, almost snowless winter was a tangible reminder of current and upcoming effects of global warming. Winter pastimes of skiing, sledding or skating largely took a pause. With a visible change in the landscape and everyday activities affected, there was an increased dialogue, and incentive to address climate change.

But this winter was a return to winters past — long, cold, and with numerous, big snowstorms. While a big snow year is still aligned with the non-linear progress of global warming, the lack of a physical reminder made it easier for Mainers to forget about the slow, but steady force of global warming.

For Maine and elsewhere, much of the effects from climate change will come gradually and inconsistently. However, climate action can’t come at the same slow, gradual pace.

Unlike with global warming, in Kathmandu the government can take a reactionary approach to fix the air pollution. But, reactionary approaches to global warming will be largely ineffective.

Without a snowless winter to serve as a reminder of the continued force of climate change, Mainers need to acknowledge the smaller changes and to continue to stay motivated in addressing climate action.

For the rest of my time in Kathmandu, I will probably continue to complain about the air pollution at any opportunity I get. But, while I’m happy to see a push to fix the problem, my chronic cough and I only wish there was motivation to address the problem earlier during the slow and steady build.