New evidence shows that earth's climate can change dramatically in only a decade.
Over the course of geologic history, the earth's environment has been far from static. More recently, as shown by sediments recording conditions over the past 500,000 years, the planet's climate varied between at least two different states. The record from the past 150,000 years is particularly well preserved, offering details about these repeated climate changes. Between about 131,000 and 114,000 years ago there was a warm period like today's climate, referred to in Europe as the Eemian or globally as Marine Isotope Stage 5e. This was followed by the Wisconsin ice age, which ended about 12,000 years ago when the current relatively warm Holocene period began.