Second, new studies are published every few months confirming that the last decade was the warmest in the last 400 to 1000 years. Society should no longer doubt global warming, but rather focus on what we should do about it. Here the scientific uncertainty gets larger, and the questions begin to include social and economic considerations. Now, these same scientists are predicting continued warming right through the 21 st century. The consensus among climate scientists is that the Earth could warm faster and to higher temperatures than it's experienced in millions of years.
Society needs to start now in devising ways to minimize risks associated with future climate change.
We rarely know if it is going to rain for sure, but we still take umbrellas along when there is a chance of rain. We also buy insurance for events that rarely happen. And, as a country, we invest trillions of dollars on a nuclear arsenal that we hope never gets used. Not knowing for certain what is going to happen in the future seldom stops us from considering the odds and making informed decisions that might save money or lives in the long-term. Scientists don't know for certain exactly how much the Earth will warm each decade of the 21 st century, but they think the warming will be enough to drive climate changes that could have serious impacts on human health and livelihood.