(task) Al Gore puts the CDC's health and climate conference back on track — minus the CDC - LA Times

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> http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-health-climate-cdc-gore-20170127-story.html <http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-health-climate-cdc-gore-20170127-story.html>
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> Al Gore puts the CDC's health and climate conference back on track — minus the CDC
> A Message from TruthFinder <//eb2.3lift.com/pass?imp_id=1485644544_575344769_8776&aid=1007985561836359336&redir=http%3A%2F%2Ftracking.truthfinder.com%2F%3Fa%3D353%26oc%3D27%26c%3D303%26dip%3D%26s1%3DAdd%26s2%3DShadow%26s3%3DDesktop>
> An abruptly postponed conference on climate change and its effects on human health is going to take place after all — thanks to Al Gore.
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> But there’s a caveat: The conference’s original sponsor — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention </topic/health/diseases-illnesses/u.s.-centers-for-disease-control-prevention-ORGOV000011-topic.html> — won’t be involved.
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> Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Assn., told <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/26/cdcs-canceled-climate-change-conference-is-back-on-thanks-to-al-gore/?utm_term=.93d103a28359> the Washington Post that the former vice president called him up after the news broke of the conference’s postponement and said, “Let’s make this thing happen.”
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> “It was a no-brainer,” Benjamin told the Post.
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> The Climate and Health Summit <http://www.usetinc.org/wp-content/uploads/bvenuti/WWS/2016/October%202016/October%2028/NIHB%20Health%20Summit%20Atlanta%20GA%20Feb%202017.pdf> was originally scheduled to be held from Feb. 14-16 in Atlanta.
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> It wasn’t officially canceled, but in the weeks after Donald Trump was elected president participants received word that the conference would not be happening <http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-cdc-conference-cancelled-20170126-story.html> as scheduled.
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> The agency never gave a reason for the change in plan. In a statement it said it was “exploring options to reschedule the meeting while considering budget priorities for fiscal year 2017.”
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> So non-governmental groups took the matter into their own hands.
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> “They tried to cancel this conference but it is going forward anyway,” Gore said in a statement released by the Climate Reality Project, an education and advocacy group he founded. “Today we face a challenging political climate, but climate shouldn’t be a political issue.”
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> The year 2016 was the third consecutive hottest year on record <http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-hottest-year-2016-20170118-story.html>, and experts say that the growing number of hot days has a direct effect on public health — for example, by exacerbating the proliferation of the Zika virus.
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> “The evidence is clear that climate change is a major threat facing the public’s health,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, in a statement. “Openly discussing these scientific issues will help us prepare for this looming challenge and better protect the American people.”
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> The new conference will be sponsored by a consortium of organizations including the APHA, the Climate Reality Project, Harvard Global Health Institute, and the University of Washington Center for Health and the Global Environment.
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> Organizers added that due to the expedited time frame of the event, the CDC’s originally scheduled three-day summit will be replaced by a one-day meeting on Feb. 16.
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> Still, they say it will preserve the intent of the postponed meeting — providing a forum for public health professionals and the climate community to discuss solutions to what could be a growing health concern.
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> deborah.netburn@latimes.com <mailto:deborah.netburn@latimes.com>
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