Weather

Typhoon Dolphin Hits China, 1M Evacuated

Is a Super El Niño the tipping point for global economic collapse or are deep ocean cycles keeping doomsday predictions overblown?

Published AUG 10

Typhoon Dolphin Hits China, 1M Evacuated

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Above: Two men carry extra sandbags for residents living near the flooding area in Shanghai on Aug. 9. Image credit: Ying Tang/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Thanks to global warming, a Super El Niño is shaping up to be the trigger that breaks an already-fragile global economy. With an 81% chance of reaching super status by late 2026, simultaneous crop failures, energy shortfalls and inflation spikes could overwhelm governments drowning in post-pandemic debt. The world has never been this exposed to a single climate event hitting this many pressure points at once.

Nacho Montes de Oca

Climate-skeptic narrative

The oceans — not atmospheric carbon spikes or El Niño cycles — are the true engine of Earth's climate, absorbing 93% of accumulated heat and smoothing planetary changes over centuries. Surface weather events are just ripples on a system governed by thousand-year deep-water cycles and biological carbon pumps. Treating short-term climate swings as economic catastrophes ignores how slowly and steadily the real planetary machinery actually operates.

Peter Clack on X