In September of 2008, Gwen traveled to China, South Africa, and France. In China, she worked with the Ottawa School of Public Service to train Central Party school professors to use skills and techniques for increased public participation, social equity, and sustainable development. In South Africa, she and the mayor of Montpelier, Vermont, Mary Hooper, attended a conference organized by the International Center for Sustainable Cities in Vancouver, BC. After the conference, she went to Johannesburg to witness the graduation of 30 students from our Earn-A-Bike training program in Diepsloot. In Paris, Gwen met with Bernard Lietaer, the co-author of a new book to be published in the spring of 2011 titled Intentional Cities, Intentional Economies, and visited a district energy plant being built by a company that is interested in working with the City of Montpelier on a similar facility.