Environment - Years of Living Dangerously

Years of Living Dangerously is a 9-part documentary concentrating on the climate alteration. James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger are executive producers of this series and the episodes promote celebrity detectives, who travel to regions around the world hit by global warming to consult professionals and commoners and analyze the effects of climate change. In this first episode Harrison Ford gets to fly on a jet that was originally designed for war. Now NASAs using it for a peaceful mission, but the stakes are just as high. Their task is to collect air samples that measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main cause of climate change. For over 20 years, hes served on the board of conservation international. So this isnt the first time hes worried about threats to our planet. But this is a chance for him to see up close how scientists study climate change... and what it all means. A three-year drought devastated the cattle herd in Texas. In many places, something like a drought is seen as an act of god, or part of a natural cycle. But where Don Cheadle lives, in Los Angeles, it seems like any kind of extreme weather gets blamed on climate change. Sometimes it feels like they live in two different countries. He wants to know what the truth is about this drought and if its possible for these two sides to talk to each other. So hes heading to Texas to find out. Thomas Friedman is less than an hours drive from the Syrian border. But hes not there to write about the latest battle. Theres a different disaster hes interested in, one he hopes will tell him something about the real roots of this conflict. Four years before the civil war started, Syria was hit by a drought that lasted until just before the revolution. A drought so devastating that it altered the lives of millions of Syrians.