When you immerse yourself in climate change and human health as I have been doing these past few months preparing for and now teaching my course, sometimes unexpected connections happen.  Today I met women from Biloxi, Mississippi, Uganda, and the Cook Islands, all mothers who became activists when climate change hit home.  Literally.  These women experienced first-hand the effects of hurricanes, cyclones, floods, and drought, and started to work in their communities in an ad hoc basis to help spread awareness of climate change and its devastating effects on humans.  As part of Climate Wise Women, they are travelling through North America telling their stories of survival and activism, and today they came to speak at Northwestern.  After the reception, I talked Constance Okallet of Uganda, the Chairperson of the Osukura United Women Network, and the mother of 7.  I showed her a cell phone photo of my 10-year-old daughter, who is the same age as her youngest child, a boy.  And though she lives in a country I barely know on a continent I have never visited, I sensed that motherhood, a planetary emergency, and the need to act were bringing us together.