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Global warming now has its own television show.

"The Climate Code," a weekly series on cable TV's The Weather Channel, premiered on Oct. 1. The first two 30-minute episodes suggest it will be a multifaceted effort to examine the climate issue in an engaging way.

Judging from those two initial installments, "The Climate Code" is unlikely to please committed hardline skeptics about human beings' ability to alter the climate.

Series host Heidi Cullen, who earned a doctorate in climatology and ocean-atmosphere dynamics, stated unequivocally near the beginning of the first episode that human activities have raised the earth's average temperature by about one degree over the past century. On the second installment on Oct. 8, she noted humanity's prodigious appetite for fossil fuel, adding that "as a result, we're changing our climate."

With such declarations, the show reflects The Weather Channel's "position statement on global warming," posted on its website last December.

That statement cites "...strong evidence that the majority of the (planetary) warming over the past century is a result of human activities. This is also the conclusion drawn, nearly unanimously, by climate scientists. Any meaningful debate on the topic amongst climate experts is over."

That springboard for coverage doesn't mean, however, that "The Climate Code" shies away from all scientific disagreements. The second episode prominently featured the contrasting views of scientists Benjamin Santer and Chris Landsea on the question of global warming's effects on hurricanes.

The overall thrust of the series is that human-caused global warming is a critical problem worthy of being examined and attacked. An ad in The New York Times Magazine promoting the show's premiere episode was headlined, "Problem global, Solution possible." In keeping with that slogan, the series leavens its longer journalistic reports with brief tips on energy conservation.

The Oct. 1 installment kicked off with a quick introduction to the basic science behind the greenhouse effect and the idea of human-caused warming. Next came a look at the implications for energy supplies, with a Boston University expert asserting, "We need to get moving on clean energy alternatives." Another piece featured interviews with two conservation-minded Georgians – Laura Turner Seydel (Ted Turner's daughter) and husband Rutherford Seydel (a lawyer and owner of professional sports franchises) – about their new, energy-saving "EcoManor" home.

On Oct. 8, along with the hurricane piece featuring Santer and Landsea, the show reported on state insurance regulators' concerns about coastal development and explored several implications of global warming for the agriculture industry and the food supply.

"The Climate Code" is broadcast on Sundays at 5 p.m. ET and on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET. In each case, the show is followed by the network's older "Forecast Earth" series, also hosted by Cullen, which has examined climate-change issues as part of its more general focus on "the science behind the weather and climate."

A detailed companion website for "The Climate Code," called One Degree, reflects and augments the TV show's content. Both are part of The Weather Channel's Climate Watch Initiative.