Angry Planet

Sea levels are rising at an alarming rate and George is heading to Tuvalu, the tiny Pacific Island nation that may just be the first country to be literally wiped off the map by climate change. George lands at the airport in the middle of a torrential downpour, and a local meteorologist tells him the extreme storms and tides plaguing the island are yet another devastating effect of climate change.

Deep in the Amazon, George is determined to retrace a legendary expedition and witness how deforestation and climate change are affecting one of the earth’s most critical ecosystems. US president Theodore Roosevelt led an expedition down an uncharted river, losing several men and boats along the way. Today George is hoping to unearth one of Roosevelt’s long-lost boats.

Hoping to determine the effect of volcanoes on climate change, George heads to the island nation of Vanuatu where he’s prepared to rappel into the fiery crater of one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Joined by Danish geologist Sara Hoffritz, George visits a local village before heading to the summit where heavy winds and acid rain delay their five-day expedition.

George heads Down Under during fire season to see if climate change is slowly causing Australia to become uninhabitable. In the Outback, drought and heat waves are becoming increasingly common. Climate change is making conditions worse, and the combination of floods, record high temperatures, and bone-dry conditions are culminating in vicious firestorms.

Even the coldest places on earth are starting to thaw and George is on his first-ever expedition to Siberia to witness first-hand the effect of melting permafrost. It’s a climate-change time bomb because as this frozen layer collapses, the massive amounts of methane gas that have been on ice for thousands of years are being released into the atmosphere.

George is crisscrossing Laos—one of the poorest and least industrialized nations on earth—to witness first hand as a nation moves into the industrialized age. George’s journey starts in the south where the steep hills are ablaze as farmers slash and burn their land to plant new crops. It’s an age-old ritual that clears the land and fertilizes the soil.

George heads to the iceberg capital of the world—Newfoundland, Canada—for an up-close look at these frozen giants. As global temperatures rise, more and more icebergs are showing up in the warmer waters of Canada. On the one hand, they offer scientists a chance to better understand climate change. But they’re also a warning bell, sounding out the decline of our critical ice sheets.

Bangladesh is at risk of being wiped off the map. Just a few feet above sea level, it’s one of the wettest places on earth. Every year its low-lying coast is pummeled by seasonal rains and tropical storms that cause flooding, erosion, and massive migration. George is on the ground during the monsoons to see for himself how Bangladeshis are adapting to their increasingly hostile environment.

The world’s largest land predator is under threat, and George is heading to Canada’s far north to see how polar bears are coping with their rapidly changing climate. For half the year, Hudson Bay is the polar bear’s ice-covered hunting ground. But as the Arctic warms, this melting habitat is leaving them vulnerable, hungry, and stranded on land. His first stop is Nanuk.