TBR.cc: Errors in Royal Society of NZ climate change paper

The Royal Society of New Zealand has again nailed its sorry little tail to the mast of a sinking global warming ship, with a statement designed to convince news media, politicians and the public that the science behind climate change is sound.

The latest paper comes in the wake of embarrassing errors discovered in the UN's AR4 report, and of course the Climategate disaster which revealed scientists conspiring to prevent studies they disagreed with from being published.

What makes the latest RSNZ paper embarrassing are some basic errors and cobbled together assumptions. Let's take a look at a couple.

EU Referendum: A snake oil election

Speaking last month, energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband said that the environment and climate change could emerge as a "top three" issue during the campaign as each party seeks to tout its green credentials.
...
Now we are told by The Guardian that Green business leaders are increasingly sceptical that this will be the case and are predicting that "low carbon policies" will slip down the agenda as politicians choose to focus on the economy.

From a survey in The Sun yesterday (pictured), that is exactly what seems to be happening. "Green issues" rank a lowly ninth in the list of voters' concerns, and that portmanteau term covers a whole range of issues, not just global warming – including energy, one presumes.

The Naked Green Emperors Must Stand in Line - Walter Russell Mead's Blog - The American Interest

Given the many dangers humanity faces, and the limited economic and political resources available to counter them, it’s not as clear as Prince Charles thinks that climate change needs to be the number one issue we address in the next 18 or 87 or however many months he thinks we have left.

Climate scientist Hansen wins $100,000 prize | Reuters

"We really have an emergency," Hansen said in a video link with the prize panel in Oslo about feared climate changes such as a thaw of ice sheets on Greenland or Antarctica or a loss of species of animals and plants in a warming world.
...
Hansen said that world temperatures were on a rising trend despite what he called a "well orchestrated campaign" in the past year to discredit scientific findings about global warming. He did not say who he reckoned was behind the campaign.