
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? In this weekend's listen, 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 (https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-extreme-heat-climate-change-data/) Thoughts or suggestions? Email zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green (https://www.bloomberg.com/green). See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information. The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon. Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BloombergPodcasts Listen to more of The Big Take: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0NPJB9wTuVsdzBVgFlcYQqN #Bloomberg #Podcast #News #Business #Economy #TheBigTake Visit us: https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts Follow Bloomberg Podcasts on Twitter: https://twitter.com/podcasts Visit our other YouTube channels: Bloomberg Television: https://www.youtube.com/@markets Bloomberg Originals: https://www.youtube.com/bloomberg Quicktake: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergQuicktake For coverage on news, markets and more: http://www.bloomberg.com/video Weekend Listen: Is the world prepared for a 'super' El Niño?