Alex Reid: Calculating outdoor summer tourism savings in Los Angeles resulting from Smart Surfaces adoption

Alex Reid is a rising junior Morehead Cain Scholar at University of North Carolina who joined the Coalition this past Spring as a Research and Analysis Intern. Alex leveraged his skillset in statistics and data analysis as the lead author on a report measuring the expected loss in summer tourism revenue as a result of climate change-driven surges in extreme heat using the LA Zoo as a case study. The analysis also quantifies the revenue savings from adopting Smart Surfaces across the LA Zoo and city-wide. Alex and the team would like to give a special thank you to Dr. Cathleen Cox, Director of Research at Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Garden, for providing data on zoo visitation and Dr. Daniel Scott, the University Research Chair and Director of the Climate Change Program at the University of Waterloo, and Chris Riehl, former President of the Baltimore Tourism Association, for providing advisory support.