Guest Speaker Description.

GUEST SPEAKER DESCRIPTION 4

Douglas Melnick is SanAntonio`s Chief Sustainability Officer since March 2014. He isresponsible for the overall leadership of the Office ofSustainability and the efforts toward the sustainability of the City.Heis a public servant who believes thatleadership is about cooperation, vision,and the creationof a work environment which challenges and motivates workers tocreate and solve problems as they plan for the future (Melnick,2016).

He presents a SustainabilityPlan which lays down the various issues of concern, the datacollected regarding such matters, and the way in which the plan willbeimplemented. Hestarts by pointing out that there are various changes in the society.These include social, economic, and climate changes. Theincrease in the population of the Citywould mean that the available resources and infrastructure will notbe enough to sustain the changes occurring in the society. TheSustainability Planlooks at how the City can plan and implement measures that ensurethat despite these changes, the city cancurb these changes (Melnick, 2016).

Melnick talks about thevarious areas that might be affected by the changes and that need tobe planned for.These include energy, food systems, public health, andinfrastructure among others. The plan included data regarding all theareas above as well as climate change. He explains that there isevidence of the riseof heat above the seasonal average, which could lead to powershortages, the spreadof disease, wildfire,and food security issues (Melnick, 2016).

The key to planning isengagement. Therefore the plan will involve keeping an onlinedashboard, public engagement through talking to communities, andannual summits to allow the publicto ask questions, contribute, and monitor the implementation of theSustainability Plan.Thiswill enable the City to have away of handling the changes as they occur (Melnick, 2016).

Reference

Melnick, D. (2016). SATomorrow Sustainability Plan: A Vision for A Sustainable San Antonio.