Joel Bach

Season one of the series debuted on Showtime in 2014 and received rave reviews. Columbia Journalism Review noted the show "drew praise", while The Guardian observed, "the series has very high standards of accuracy." Bach and Gelber's work garnered Years of Living Dangerously the 2014 Emmy Award, for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. He and Gelber also won the 2014 Environmental Media Award in the category, Outstanding Achievement for Environmental Content.

After Bach and Gelber successfully enlisted Weintraub and film director James Cameron as executive producers of the television documentary project, multiple celebrities joined soon thereafter — including Harrison Ford, Jessica Alba, Matt Damon, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. They were joined by news reporters Lesley Stahl and Chris Hayes. David Nevins, president of entertainment at Showtime Networks, explained why they decided to move forward with the project in 2012. Nevins stated it presented Showtime with a rare chance to utilize both celebrity star talent and filmmmakers such as James Cameron, "with the hard-hitting, intimate journalism of 60 Minutes veterans Joel Bach and David Gelber."

Bach began to attempt to produce as many news pieces related to climate change for 60 Minutes as he could. He and Gelber discussed the topic of global warming and agreed it was not getting enough significant attention from the media. Bach and Gelber both left 60 Minutes together in order to devote more time and energy to their climate change project. Together in 2011 they founded the company to focus these efforts, Roaring Fork Films — in the process Bach described they both left, "the best job in TV, 60 Minutes."

In 2011, Bach and Gelber received their first funding source for YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY with a check for US$750,000 from investor Jeremy Grantham. Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, used his company Vulcan Inc. to allocate $1.8 million towards education and marketing related to the project. In total, Bach and Gelber were able to raise $15 million in funds for the project. They initially wanted the Years of Living Dangerously project to be a feature film. Fellow film and television executive Jerry Weintraub convinced Bach and Gelber to instead make the production into a television series. Their idea for the project was motivated further by Bach and Gelber's experience watching the 2012 United States presidential debates, and he noticed there were no questions on climate change.

Bach and Gelber had previously worked together on 60 MINUTES with CBS News, prior to co-founding YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, Bach joined 60 Minutes in 2004. He spent seven years as a producer and journalist with 60 Minutes. While working at 60 Minutes, Bach earned two Emmy Awards for his investigative journalism and production efforts with CBS News. During his time at CBS News, Bach primarily worked with 60 Minutes journalists including Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Steve Kroft, and Scott Pelley.

Bach spent his early life in Colorado. He was raised near the Roaring Fork River in Colorado, which would later inspire the name for his joint production company with Gelber. Bach studied video and film production at Brown University. Bach fostered his early interests in the environment and combined these motivations with his burgeoning film skills at Brown. He created the short film, Brown Is Green, intended to educate first year students at Brown on why they should recycle. The piece also served as his honors thesis. Bach graduated from Brown University in 1991.