El Niño could drag down the global economy by almost $700 billion or $3 trillion—and the choice is ours

The US National Weather Service has announced the arrival of an El Niño, the warm phase the Central Pacific warming and cooling cycle that affects weather across the globe. The odds favor a "very strong" or (more colloquially) Super El Niño. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant force shaping year-to-year changes in global weather and will likely drive record-breaking temperatures and extreme flooding and drought events around the world. The global effects of El Niño have already started and arrive at different times in different places, with the effects typically peaking in…