Hundreds of eastern Kentuckians met in Pikeville to discuss climate change.

The Pikeville Chamber of Commerce hosted the summit Thursday night in hopes of educating business leaders about the controversial issue and how it affects our region.

Canadian Scientist Tom Harris also shared his research on global warming and says coal and natural gas industries are being unfairly targeted.

Tom Harris does research with more than forty other scientists, and says the issue of climate change is difficult to prove or disprove.

“This is the most complex scientific problem that we have ever faced, and as a consequence, we are in an era of negative discovery, where the more we learn, the more we realize, we just don't understand,” Tom Harris said.

Leaders in the coal industry invited Harris to address these controversial issues.

He says the idea of global warming, or climate change, may not be happening the way some are preaching.

“CO2 has gone up in the last ten years. It is continuing to go up, but temperatures have stabilized and in fact they're slightly dropping, so the theory doesn't match the facts,” Harris said.

He says for lawmakers to attack the coal industry because of what he calls a political theory, is not right.

“It is not necessary to cripple this area for a theory that is actually very quickly being shown to probably being wrong,” Harris said.

John Justice says it is important for the people of eastern Kentucky and the region to understand these realities.

“We need to have citizens that can address this issue, engage in conversation, with knowledge and facts about the importance of the industry, rather than it's just good for our community,” Justice said.

He says he hopes the summit helped educate the community.
Harris says the scientists in the International Climate Science Coalition are mainly tenured professors at universities or independent researchers, suggesting they are not part of any agenda.