Extreme Oscillations: Understanding the Impact of Climate Change on El Niño and La Niña

Acute variations in wind strength and ocean temperatures in the vast Pacific Ocean lead to two distinct climate patterns, El Niño, and La Niña. “The other concern that we have with El Niño is El Niño creates a hotter Earth writ large.” Depending on where you are in the world, the effects of La Niña can vary. It typically brings more severe droughts and fires to southern United States but more rainfall and cloudiness to Australia. ENSO is the regular oscillation back and forth between the El Niño and La Niña states.

The likelihood of an El Niño developing in 2023 and beyond will rise with increasingly higher greenhouse gas emissions. Secretary General Petteri Taalas says “We just had the eight warmest years on record, even though we had a cooling La Niña for the past three years, and this acted as a temporary brake on global temperature increase. The development of an El Niño will most likely lead to a new spike in global heating and increase the chance of breaking temperature records…. The world should prepare for the development of El Niño, which is often associated with increased heat, drought or rainfall in different parts of the world….”

Our Most Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan), often talks about the urgent crises our planet is facing and shares the best solution to the problem. “We must, first of all, and the most important thing, we have to stop global warming by choosing a sustainable diet that is […] vegan. This will almost immediately stabilize the planet, the weather, and then we can think about adapting to the changes. I hope we don’t have to adapt, but otherwise, it might be too late if we don’t take care of the problem at the root right now, we will have no planet to even adapt to.”