About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of the current El Niño phase and its interaction with climate change, featuring insights from a climate professor.

The great famine of the 1870s killed 50 million people – and El Niño was a key driver. Another El Niño phase has just begun and it’s expected to be among the strongest. There are five times as many people in 2026 as there were in the 1870s and the planet is 1.4C hotter. So are we better prepared? Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi speaks with Mingfang Ting, professor of climate at Columbia University, about the natural phenomenon and its interaction with human-caused climate change. Read more: Bloomberg Green's deep dive on  extreme heat Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green . Our producer is Oscar Boyd. Special thanks to Sommer Saadi, Mohsis Andam, Alyssa MacDonald and Laura Millan. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit  https://www.bloomberg.com/green . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Akshat Rathi

Guest: Mingfang Ting

Topics covered

• El Niño
• climate change
• natural phenomena
• human impact
• preparedness
• extreme weather

Keywords

• El Niño
• climate change
• famine
• preparedness
• extreme heat
• natural phenomenon
• Mingfang Ting

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Columbia University, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg

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