Bradley Whitford returned to D.C. to discuss climate change

For seven seasons, Bradley Whitford was a fictional fixture in Washington, D.C., as he starred on The West Wing. The actor recently returned to the nation’s capital for a much more urgent matter: global warming.

Appearing on the latest episode of Entertainment Weekly: The Show, Whitford discussed National Geographic’s Years of Living Dangerously, where in an upcoming episode, the actor went to D.C. to speak with politicians who don’t believe in climate change.

“It has somehow become this partisan football, which is really frustrating,” he told host Ricky Camilleri. “And the Republican Party is the only conservative party in the world who does not accept the science. So the question is then, what do you do? Do you go into a room and say, ‘You’re an idiot, what you’re doing is outrageous?’ Are you going to get anything done?”

Whitford is the latest high-profile celebrity activist to serve as a guest correspondent on the Emmy-winning series, where past guests such as Matt Damon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and David Letterman interview experts about the effects and possible solutions to global warming.

Years of Living Dangerously airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on National Geographic. Watch this full episode of Entertainment Weekly: The Show, available now, on the People/Entertainment Weekly Network (PEN). Go to PEOPLE.com/PEN, or download the PEN app on Apple TV, Roku Players, Amazon Fire TV, Xumo, Chromecast, iOS, and Android devices.