Penitent CNN Anchor Confesses 'Eco-Sins' for Earth Day

April 22nd, 2011 11:14 AM

In a bizarre wrap-up to the 2 p.m. EDT hour of CNN "Newsroom" Thursday, anchor T.J. Holmes confessed his "eco-sins" to the audience. Commemorating the eve of "Earth Day," Holmes admitted to his "green" faults which included driving an SUV by himself to work daily, blasting the heat in his house during winter, and using "less efficient" incandescent bulbs for lighting.

"These are my eco-sins. I'm confessing them to you because tomorrow is Earth Day," Holmes announced to the audience.

"It often goes ignored by many of us, including me. Not going to ignore it this year. Why? Well, maybe it was an awakening. Maybe I was scolded recently by an environmentalist. Maybe I'm tired of wasting my own money," he rambled, before wishing the audience a happy Earth Day.


The awkward segment grew a little more so at the end, when 3 p.m. EDT anchor Brooke Baldwin applauded Holmes for his honesty and Holmes sheepishly replied that "there's some other stuff."

A transcript of the segment, which aired on April 21 at 2:59 p.m. EDT, is as follows:

T.J. HOLMES, CNN anchor: Well, in today's "XYZ," I'd like confess my sins.

I drive a Chevy Tahoe. It gets 15 miles to the gallon in the city. While some people have SUVs to haul their large families around, it's just me driving by myself to work every day.

I have a number of TVs in my high house and leave them on just about all day, every day.

I often turn the water on in the shower, then I walk downstairs to maybe grab breakfast, leave the water running, then I go back upstairs to take a shower.

I buy 24 packs of bottled water at a time. Then I throw those bottles away without recycling.

In the winter I crank the heat up to 75 or 76.

All the light bulbs in my house are still the old school, less efficient incandescent bulbs.

Those are my eco-sins. I'm confessing them to you because tomorrow is Earth Day. It often goes ignored by many of us, including me. Not going to ignore this year. Why? Well, maybe it was an awakening. Maybe I was scolded recently by an environmentalist. Maybe I'm tired of wasting my own money.

Whatever my reasons, whatever yours, happy Earth Day.

Brooke, I just confessed to you on national TV.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN anchor: I'm impressed, it was just 60 seconds of confessions, friend. Oh, T.J. Holmes.

HOLMES: There's some other stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thank you, sir. You just walk on out of that shot. Thank you.

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