Host Shelagh Cooley speaks with Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the Executive Director of the Public Banking Institute, the founder of Global Community Initiatives, and author of two books and three workbooks: The Key to Sustainable Cities: Meeting Human Needs, Transforming Community Systems; Taking Action for Sustainability: the EarthCAT Guide to Community Development; LASER: Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal, and the newest book with Bernard Lietaer called Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies about how cities can use currency strategies to achieve their sustainability goals. The third workbook, called Community Currency, also written with Bernard Lietaer, has been translated into 15 languages and is used all over the world.
Gwendolyn has over 25 years of experience working with municipal, regional, and state government in the United States and internationally. She has served as the Planning and Community Development Director for the City of Montpelier, the Town Manager of Randolph, Vermont, the Regional Planning Director in Franklin County, MA, a Senior Planner for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, and the Deputy Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Her international experience included work with the United Nations Environment Program, the United Nations Development Program, the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the International City/County Management Association, and Earth Charter International. She has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Brown University and studied theology at the Andover Newton Theological School, exploring the links between our wisdom traditions, spirituality, and work at the community level.
http://vtneweconomy.org/
http://publicbankinginstitute.org/
