Years of Living Dangerously

- Season 1

(2014)

Harrison Ford investigates the effects of Indonesia's palm oil industry. Don Cheadle visits a Texan town that has been economically devastated by drought. Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas Friedman examines the role of climate change in Syria's volatile state.

In episode two, Harrison Ford continues his investigation into the global effects of the palm oil industry and further explores the corruption that has ravaged the Indonesian landscape resulting in the country being one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases through deforestation. Meanwhile, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joins an elite team of wild-land firefighters-known as the "Hot Shots"-as they battle a new breed of forest fires, one made more deadly by climate change. He also discovers another killer wiping out trees at an even faster rate than ...

In episode three, MSNBC's Chris Hayes shadows climate change skeptic, Republican Congressman Michael Grimm, for a year in Staten Island in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and questions what he might have learned about climate change in the process, and conservationist M. Sanjayan travels to the ends of the earth-including Christmas Island-to question some of the world's top climate scientists as they collect key data unlocking the past and future of our planet's changing climate.

In episode four, 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl travels to Greenland to investigate the effects of global warming in the Arctic; Down south, Ian Somerhalder travels to North Carolina to listen in on both sides of the evangelical community's debate over climate change. Somerhalder finds himself entrenched in the middle of not only a religious debate, but a familial one. The father: a megachurch preacher who doesn't believe in climate change. The daughter: an activist trying to shut down the local coal-fired power plant.

In episode five, Olivia Munn profiles climate-conscious governor Jay Inslee of Washington State, and together they discuss the issues he's faced since being elected. Meanwhile, New York Times columnist Mark Bittman probes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the topic of man-made climate change during the rebuilding of his state's coastline post-Superstorm Sandy. Christie used to acknowledge the scientific consensus on climate change, but steadfastly refused to discuss it during the rush to rebuild.

In episode six, America Ferrera profiles prominent climate change skeptic James Taylor of the Heartland Institute as he crusades against clean energy, and investigates the battle over the future of renewable energy in the US. New York Times columnist Mark Bittman returns to conduct a yearlong investigation into natural gas, which has been touted as "America's energy source" and a way towards a cleaner, greener future. Is it true?

In episode seven, three stories provide insight into the economic costs and opportunities of global warming. Jessica Alba meets three members of Climate Corps-an innovative MBA-focused program developed by The Environmental Defense Fund - as they try to convince America's top corporations that sustainability can actually boost their bottom lines. Having traveled in episode one to investigate drought in Syria, Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas Friedman finds himself in Egypt to explore how what happens in the wheat fields of Kansas plays out on the volatile streets of Cairo...

In episode eight, Matt Damon takes viewers on an investigation into the impact of extreme heat on human health and mortality. With a focus on startling new research from leading scientists and researchers, Damon uncovers the ways in which climate change and rising temperatures are becoming a public health emergency locally, nationally and globally. Michael C. Hall journeys to the low-lying deltaic country of Bangladesh where rising seas are expected to submerge 17% of the nation. Hall explores the prediction that by 2050, the migration of upwards of 150 million people...

In the season finale, Michael C. Hall concludes his journey to Bangladesh where rising seas are expected to submerge 17% of the nation. After traveling to Christmas Island in episode three, M. Sanjayan returns to further address and question some of the top climate scientists in their fields as they collect key data unlocking the past and future of our planet's changing climate. His destination: Tupungatito, the northernmost historically active stratovolcano in the southern Andes.