Constance Okollet, her family, and their neighbors have done very little to fuel the global warming that's transforming the entire planet. This is mostly because, on a global scale, they are poor. At least 60 percent of historical greenhouse gas emissions—that is, all emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution—have come from wealthy nations, and Okollet lives in Uganda, a country with a per-capita income of about $2,100 a year. 

Yet Okollet and her community are already suffering the effects of global climate change. In the last decade, the residents of her village of Osukuru, most of whom are subsistence farmers, have been battered by floods and droughts that have ruined harvests and led to food shortages. Of course, climate change threatens everyone on the planet; even the wealthiest billionaires won't be able to buy an escape from the dislocations under way. Still, there's no denying that the poor are the most vulnerable, for the simple reason that they have fewer resources to help them cope when disaster strikes. 

But Okollet is no victim. Rather than succumb to apathy or despair, she has responded to the climate crisis by organizing her neighbors to build enterprises that will help them adapt to global warming. Along the way, Okollet has also become a prominent voice demanding climate justice. She has spoken at the UN climate conferences in Copenhagen (2009), Paris (2015), and Marrakech (2016). In a profile of Okollet ("Ugandan Women Didn't Cause Climate Change, But They're Adapting to It"), Sierra associate editor Wendy Becktold quotes a former Oxfam campaigner who early on was blown away by Okollet's oratorical powers: "She was a natural. Her speeches were so eloquent and emotional."

Okollet's story is inspirational not necessarily because she's uncommon—clearly she possesses exceptional charisma and force of will—but because she's so ordinary. She's a mother of seven, a teacher's wife, a self-described "peasant." And she's a luminary, too. 

Constance Okollet exemplifies the Sierra Club's ideal of citizen advocacy. You don't need fancy degrees or special skills to be an agent of change. You just need a lot of heart, a willingness to dig in, and the optimism to believe that, as Okollet says, "things will change slowly, slowly." 

This article appeared in the November/December 2017 edition with the headline "An Uncommonly Ordinary Heroine."