WASHINGTON, D.C. — Climate change is not the manmade disaster many scientists claim and is not as drastic as described in media, according to speakers at the Tenth International Conference on Climate Change in Washington, D.C., June 11-12.

The two-day conference hosted 400 attendees and hundreds more watching online as scientists and politicians discussed what they see as liberal bias in media and pressure many scientists have faced to declare climate change an issue that humanity influences.

"I have worked on this for 25 years and I did not expect this record. I was surprised myself ... all my life I wanted to find what was true," said Willie Soon, Ph.D. He is an astrophysicist and geoscientist. He said many other scientists do not study the available data in enough detail to reach the correct conclusion that humanity’s influence on the climate is very limited.

Many of the drastic changes indicated as proof of climate change are changes in technology or amateur data collection, Soon said. If a temperature is recorded one day, it needs to be recorded at the exact same time every day.

Weather is recorded in fewer locations in the Southern Hemisphere and in rural areas – swaying data toward Northern Hemisphere and urban records. As it does not indicate the entire world, he said the data should not be used for a global focus.

To get accurate comparisons, scientists need about 50 years of data, which is not currently available, Soon said – but in dealing with the numbers available, he said the climate is similar to previous records.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said the reason the wrong information is widespread is because President Barak Obama is in power and he wants the EPA to regulate emissions.

"If you control carbon, you control life," he said. "They have money on their side ... they’re brainwashing my kids and grandkids."

Mark Mills, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and CEO of the Digital Power Group, said current energy systems rely heavily on fossil fuels and the $6 trillion industry is not going to change in months, years or even decades.

Since the United States has started hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to withdraw shale oil, the system has become much more efficient, Mills said. The focus on shale oil technology means more oil will be available and oil prices will continue to be low.

"It’s inconceivable to me after millions in private fundraising in new technologies (for oil and it) will disappear overnight," he said. Renewable energy sources have fewer technological advances, making it expensive to develop with little reward, he added.

More information about the conference will be available online at www.heartland.org