When I was growing up, I loved being outdoors and being active, said Vicky Markham. My mother was a gardener, and I loved the outdoors.
For 25 years, environmental education and advocacy have been Markham's passion. Now shes continuing that work on the local level as the founding director of the New Canaan-based Center for Environment and Population, a nonprofit research, policy and advocacy organization focused on the relationship between the population and the natural environment.
The group, which operates out of an office on Cherry Street, works to ensure that government policies are backed up by the best sciences. She also uses the center to show people how their actions and purchases can affect the environment and the world population.
Theres a big connection to what we do in our own backyard to what happens in our environment, said Markham, a Wilton resident. Thats the kind of connection we make so that the environment is healthy for generations to come.
Markham knew she would be involved in environmental education and advocacy from her youth. She started that work after earning a bachelors degree at the University of Maryland and a masters degree in environmental science at Yale University. She worked with the World Wildlife Fund and at Turner Broadcasting to develop films on environmental issues. The center is a smaller group, but she said, we pack a big punch in informing people, government officials and the media about climate change and other environmental issues. Small contacts, she said, can have a ripple effect and cause positive change.
Its been a good 25 years, she said. It never gets boring or stale because the issues of population and climate change are the biggest issues the planet is facing. You need experts, and I love communicating these issues to people because I know how important they are.
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