Several years ago, I climbed Mt. Washington in Nevada to see the oldest complex life forms on Earth. Typically found at elevations higher than 3,000 meters, bristlecone pine trees can live for as long as five millennia. They do so by growing very slowly in arid environments that are too harsh for most other life forms.
In current climate conditions, a bristlecone pine tree might expand in thickness by one millimeter each year. But the thickness of tree rings will vary based on climate conditions: the amount of rainfall and the level of carbon dioxide in the air.
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