Karen Varga is a 42-year-old single parent of two teenage daughters. Her working life began as an apprentice telecommunications installation engineer - the first female engineer in the company that employed her. She gave up her career to concentrate on the needs of her elder daughter, who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition. Since then, she has founded and run two support groups for parents of children with special educational needs and is currently the branch officer of the local National Autistic Society. She sat on Bidford-on-Avon parish council for two years. Her environmental concerns led to her joining Greenpeace 15 years ago, followed by the Green Party eight years ago, having recognised the social justice implications of short-term party politics and ignoring climate change. She is also a member of Friends of the Earth and the Transition Stratford group.