This episode of cinematic docuseries Years of Living Dangerously is titled Gathering Storm and looks at the impact of rising and warming seas.
Featuring appearances by movie star Jack Black and The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder, the show looks at how rising sea levels could make cities like Miami uninhabitable within 50 years.
Black wants to find out how Miami and other costal cities can survive as the ocean levels gradually rise. What he discovers is that many local politicians and business leaders are in total denial.
However, he does find some residents, scientists and local leaders who have heeded the warning and trying to do something before the glamorous city is drowned beneath the waves.
Meantime, Ian Somerhalder heads to the Bahamas where he investigates how the warming of the sea surface temperature influences the strength and frequency of hurricanes.
He is invited to examine core samples dating back to the early 1800s and can see how the higher frequency of big storms back then were related to a warming of the sea.
The scientists are trying to use this data to predict how the current warming will impact hurricane formation and other extreme weather events.
The subject is close to home for the heartthrob actor as he hails from southeast Louisiana and is all too aware of the huge damage caused by storms like Katrina.
Both he and Black are encouraging fans to tune in to every episode to find out more about this and other vitally important environmental issues facing our planet.
You can find out more about the award winning series and the issues it raises on the official site.
Watch Years of Living Dangerously – Gathering Storm at 10/9c PM on National Geographic Channel.