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BETWEEN the covid-19 pandemic and the slow boil of climate change, times have been hard of late. If, like me, you have been shocked by the extent of recent human tragedies and ecological devastation, you may now be a more solemn, sensible person than you were five years ago.

The same, it seems, is true of Zac Efron. The actor first tried out environmentalism in season one of Down to Earth With Zac Efron, shot in 2018 and 2019. Parteco-documentary, part-foodie travelogue, he toured the world with self-styled wellness expert Darin Olien, tackling climate change and sustainability from a wide-eyed, puppyish perspective.

The series was predicated on a simple hypothesis: to get people to change their behaviour to avoid environmental ruin, it is no good simply appealing to the better angels of their nature. Instead, you must exploit the human desire for social status. You need to make sustainability sexy.

This sounds reasonable, but the first season was scattergun and uneven. Its optimistic tone was a lifeline in a sea of 鈥渟erious鈥� climate coverage, and it showcased some interesting technologies. Yet much time was wasted on travel porn that had little to do with the health of our planet, and it allowed a slew of questionable claims about nutrition to go unchallenged. The series was a far-from-perfect advertisement for this lifestyle-led approach to climate activism.

But that was the Before Times. After Efron became stranded in Australia during the country鈥檚 covid-19 lockdowns, he fell in love with its unique biomes and species. was the inevitable result, and I am happy to say this sophomore season is a more mature take.

Over eight episodes, Efron and Olien explore the challenges of sustainability in Australia. One minute the pair are travelling to pristine natural sites or helping with conservation programmes, the next they are visiting zero-waste housing projects or seeding coral off the coast. In a particularly moving episode, Olien, whose home burned down in the 2018 California wildfires, meets people and animals affected by Australia鈥檚 bushfires in 2019 and 2020.

Gone, mostly, are the lengthy montages of lads on tour, replaced by some important fundamentals, such as animated explainers of concepts like biodiversity loss and sea level rise.

Crucially, this season highlights how environmental crises past and present have had unequal effects. Australia鈥檚 light yet fecund soil turns out to have been managed sustainably by Indigenous peoples until British colonisers introduced their own farming methods in the 18th century, leading to a rapid decline that left the country with some of the least fertile land in the world.

Even in its wiser form, the series won鈥檛 charm everyone. You may feel a greater call to action at the sight of shrinking glaciers, accompanied by the dulcet tones of David Attenborough 鈥� which Efron subconsciously copies from time to time. But we aren鈥檛 all the same. And as Efron points out: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the thing about changes like these. They start out so small鈥� then they start to build and they catch on, then suddenly the old ways seem so outdated.鈥�

His new effort could be a step in the right direction. Any approach that makes a greener, fairer world seem not only possible, but desirable, is worthy of respect. Hell, more than that, it鈥檚 sexy.

Bethan Ackerley is a subeditor at New Scientist. She loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything spooky. She is still upset about the ending of Game of Thrones. Follow
her on Twitter @inkerley