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These Bristlecones Are Talking

New evidence of prolonged drought in the West reveals megadroughts are more common than thought, impacting climate change perceptions.

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And they have a message:

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Researchers say they have found new evidence of prolonged drought in parts of the West, suggesting megadroughts are not the rarity Westerners would like them to be.

Of course, there is already ample evidence for Westerners not to think this, but c'mon, who remembers what they had for dinner on Tuesday, much less how much it rained 800 years ago? Then there's all this climate changey stuff that people keep bringing into the picture, and it's just...well...I bet some of my buddies out West can feel the hard reckoning in their desert-bleached bones. There is an upside, though: Archaeologists in 3100 AD are gonna be feasting on the ruins out there. And a thousand years from today, I bet they'll also be scratching their heads over the same thing we wonder now about the Anasazi and Hohokam: WTF were these people thinking?

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