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- Ami Eckard-Lee: You've
probably heard someone say,

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"If climate change is real,
why do we still have blizzards?"

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This is likely because people
still confuse

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weather and climate.

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They're related,
but they are different.

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Weather refers to the
short-term conditions,

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like our day-to-day forecast.

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Climate refers
to long-term trends

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and how conditions are changing
year to year.

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Overall,
the Earth is getting warmer,

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and this does some crazy stuff
to our daily weather

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that might not always reflect
this change how we'd expect.

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Extreme droughts, flash floods,
whiteout blizzards, and more

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are all examples
of severe weather events.

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These aren't new,
but a warmer climate

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means less stability
in our weather patterns,

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leading to a higher frequency
of these events.

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And these severe weather events
are dangerous for people,

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the environment,
and our food resources.

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So, what happens
when weather patterns

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start to become more severe?

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[bright music]

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Severe weather
has a major impact

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on the agricultural industry.

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Our crops aren't resilient
enough

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to withstand flash droughts
or sustained rain events,

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but that's exactly
what they're being subjected to.

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Climate change is forcing
farmers to think proactively

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about what changes are coming
so that when things do happen,

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their farms are already
prepared.

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What kind of impact
are you noticing

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climate change is having
on the farming industry?

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- Chris Wilson:
We, as an industry,

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have really narrowed
in the things

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that we're growing and raising.

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We're only growing a single crop
or a couple of crops,

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and if we do get
extreme weather,

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they get wiped out together.

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And I can tell you,

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not every year,
every crop's successful.

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- What kinds of changes
are you making now

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to plan for that?

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- Thirty years ago,
we were growing two crops.

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We're growing ten crops now
today.

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And that has been part
of the strategy.

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That is the long-term planning
of, like,

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how do we just grow more things,

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more diversified things
that basically

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make a more resilient process
and a more resilient outcome?

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- Why are diverse systems
more resilient than a monocrop?

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- Some years, this will do well
and this won't.

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If we're growing one crop,
it's like flipping a coin.

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If we're growing ten crops,

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we know we're gonna have six
or seven good ones.

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Six or seven good ones, for us,
is a good year.

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It's a way of ensuring
kind of our production system,

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and cows are gonna have
something to eat,

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and we're gonna produce milk,

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and it feeds people
and puts food in grocery stores.

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- Ami: Okay,
so it's kind of an experiment.

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- Chris: It is.

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We might fail,
but we might be successful too.

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That's a lot of what
we're trying to figure out

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is, like,
how do we adapt to something

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that we don't even know
what it looks like yet?

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- Ami: Yeah.
- We have ideas,

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we have potential weather
and climate impacts,

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but we don't know absolutely

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how it's gonna impact things
on the ground, in the dirt.

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So, we're broadcasting
a lot of seeds

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and trying a lot
of different things.

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- As the climate changes,
the frequency and intensity

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of extreme weather events
are increasing,

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and farmers have to adapt
their farming practices

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to better withstand
these changes.

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But how can we accurately
predict

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what the impacts
of climate change will be

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on the agricultural industry
in the future?

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Some researchers are looking
to the plants themselves,

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specifically trees.

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Let's meet up with a researcher
who studies tree rings

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to help us predict climate
change trends in the future.

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Can you explain how trees grow
and how they put on tree rings?

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- Evan Larson:
That's a great question.

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So, trees grow
by taking energy from the Sun.

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They take carbon out of the air

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and they take nutrients
from the soil.

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And they combine it all

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through the process
of photosynthesis.

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And that's the building
of sugars

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that then they use
to build wood.

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And every year,
they're building another ring.

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And then in the fall,
they go dormant.

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They go to sleep, basically,
for the winter.

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It's too cold to grow.

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And then in the spring,
they'll start growing again,

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put on the next year's ring.

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And so, water is really
important for you and me.

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It's really important for trees.

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If a tree is really dry,

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that means that it cannot
photosynthesize as much

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or even as efficiently.
- Okay.

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- And so, that means that they
have to work really hard

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to get enough energy
to add a ring.

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And that's expressed in either
a narrow ring for a drought

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or a wide ring on those
really wet years.

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- How is this information used
to tell us more

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about climate change?

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- It's a great question
'cause we have records

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from our thermometers and rain
gauges in a lot of places,

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but they only go back
about 100 years.

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The problem is that
climate changes

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on these really big timescales,

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way longer than our
instrumental records go.

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These trees have been
living here for 500 years,

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and we know that every drought
and every big wet year,

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they are now recording that
in the width of their rings.

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Dendrochronology is the study of
time through the rings of trees.

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Knowing what a wide and what
a narrow ring represents,

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we can then use the tree rings

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to reconstruct how much rain
fell in the past.

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And so, what we can do
with dendrochronology

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is actually start to predict.
- Ami: Mm-hmm.

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- We know what it is right now,
but what's it gonna be?

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- So, the tree rings vary
in their size,

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and you can directly tell

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how that had to do
with the rainfall.

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- Bingo.

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And what it does,
this is really cool.

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It creates almost
like a barcode in time.

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- Whoa!
- Fingerprint.

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- Yeah, it really does.

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- Evan: This is a record
of climate change.

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- Okay.

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- So, this is one of the samples
from this site.

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That really wide ring?

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- Ami: Mm-hmm.
- Evan: That was a good year.

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- Ami: Oh, yeah.
- Followed by a narrow ring?

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That was a drought.

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And so, as we come out here,
look at that here.

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- Ami: Those are really narrow.

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- That's about ten years
of really suppressed growth.

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So, you see this kind of ebb
and flow of the climate.

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Some years are good,
some years are hard.

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And so, the clustering
of these really narrow rings,

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that's the kind of stuff that,

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that's pretty scary
from a farmer's perspective.

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- Oh, yeah.

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- Evan: 'Cause you might be able
to handle one drought.

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But what about a five-year
continuous drought?

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- Ami: Yeah.
- That's big time.

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But the question is...

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- Why?
- ...why was it dry?

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That's what we're working out.

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And so, the trees that we have
growing on the bluffs

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in the Driftless area,

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based off of the width
of their rings,

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are not just telling us
just how much rain fell,

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but it's also starting
to tell us

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about these really big
circulation patterns

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of how the world's climate
is changing.

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So, even while we're talking
about droughts,

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we're also seeing swings
in the other way

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and these really,
really wet times.

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So, our rains are getting
more intense

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and our droughts
are getting more intense.

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- Extremes.
- So, what do you do?

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And so,
that's the fun of science

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is that we're figuring it out.

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We know what we need to do.

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We need to learn more
from the trees.

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We need to better understand
our climate.

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And we need to keep pushing
that understanding forward

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so that we can take that
information back to the farmers

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and the water resource managers

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and the communities
who need to manage their water.

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- Mm-hmm.

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By studying tree growth patterns
from the past,

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scientists can predict

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how climate change might affect
our agricultural crops

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in the future.

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This is some
pretty incredible science

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that's still rather unknown
to nonexperts,

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and that's part of the problem.

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Science is often a topic
that feels inaccessible

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to a lot of people.

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And bridging
the communication gap

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between scientists
and the general public

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is a challenge.

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But that is exactly what
the Flow Project does.

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The Flow Project is a program

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that connects scientists
with artists

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so they can collaborate
and create art

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inspired by scientific research.

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Why did you choose to get
involved with the Flow Project?

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- Evelyn Zadzilka: I think the
biggest difference we can make

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in climate change,
at least as an artist,

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is being able to communicate the
ideas behind climate change

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in a way that's accessible
to people.

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It just takes a slightly
different approach.

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- Yeah, a creative one.

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Can you show me your project?

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- For sure, yeah.

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- It's growing!
[laughs]

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What are you hoping to convey
through this piece of art?

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- I was really hoping to get
across the idea

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that different tree rings and
different sections of the tree

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might transport
different amounts of water,

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especially
during different years,

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as represented by the thicker
or more dense strands of blue.

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- What did you learn
by combining

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this art and this science?

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Did anything stand out to you?

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- I think art is a beautiful way
of interpreting science.

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It makes it so easy
to fall into it

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and, like, learn without even
trying to learn,

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whether that's water usage

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or climate change
throughout the centuries.

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I really hope people take away
the idea

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that trees have so much to show
us if we know how to look.

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- You don't have to be
a scientist

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to make a difference
in climate change.

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Finding solutions is all about
collaborating with people

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who have different perspectives,
experimenting with new ideas,

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and using the tools
we already have

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to look at something
through a new lens.

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Experiment with new methods
like Chris.

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Learn to communicate in new ways
like Evelyn,

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or look to the past to learn
about the future, like Evan.

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Solutions grow
from looking and learning.

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So, be curious.

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Take the time to look closely
at the details

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and learn how they fit
into the big picture.

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You never know what solution
you might find

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just by asking
the right question.

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I said it wrong.

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How is dendrochron--
- Close.

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- Chro-nology
- Chro.

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- How is dendochronology--
- Nope. [laughs]

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- Ami: Ah!