Environment

Years of Living Dangerously: James Cameron’s climate change series to air on Sunday

Published

11 years ago

April 13, 2014

Blue & Green Tomorrow

The first episode of an eight-part documentary series looking at climate change and featuring a range of well-known Hollywood stars is set to begin on Sunday on US TV channel Showtime.

Years of Living Dangerously tells the stories of people across the world who have been – and are being – affected by climate change, as well as politicians and climate scientists. The first episode is already available on YouTube but will be shown on cable TV on Sunday.

The series includes Arnold Schwarzenegger dealing with wildfires in California, Harrison Ford investigating deforestation in Asia and Matt Damon discussing the impact of heatwaves. In another segment of the series, a journalist looks at superstorm Sandy and how the US recovered from it.

The $20m (£12m) production was filmed in the US, Europe, south-east Asia, South America and the Middle East.

Director James Cameron, the man behind Titanic and Avatar, is an executive producer of the series. He said, “These are the stories of people whose lives have been transformed by climate change.

“Everyone thinks climate change is about melting glaciers and polar bears. I think that’s a big mistake. This is 100% a people’s story. This is about survival. This is the biggest story of our time – and this is the time to tell it.”

The documentary follows a series of films that have focused on climate change and its effects on people and the planet. The most famous examples include An Inconvenient Truth by former US vice-president Al Gore and The 11th Hour, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. More recently, James Balog’s award-winning documentary Chasing Ice has gained critical acclaim for its stunningly visual portrayal of climate change’s impact.

Photo: NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr