Left wing environmentalist Sam Champion continued to push his eco-agenda on Friday's edition of "Good Morning America." The liberal weatherman enlisted the help of IdealBite.com, a web page devoted to "green living." One of the site's founders, Heather Stephenson, lectured a family interested in going green about the evils of buying new toys for their children. She explained, "'Cause the best thing that you can do for the environment, actually, is not buy more stuff."
The goal was to help the couple "get their green on." And while some of the suggestions were sensible, others sounded rather socialist. After encouraging a neighborhood "toy swap" as an alternative to new toys, the other founder of Ideal Bite, Jennifer Boulden, touted old jewelry. "And that's the best thing you do, in terms of eco, is not have to buy new. People don't think about the fact that when they're wearing new jewelry, it is from the Earth. It has to be mined," she hectored. Isn't this more than a little hypocritical on the part of GMA? After the segment ended, commercials appeared advertising a new Disney movie, Amtrak, the newest cars from Hyundai and Honda. Wouldn't it be best to watch an old Disney movie and not encourage the making of new ones? Shouldn't eco-Americans simply buy used cars and not patronize Honda and Hyundai?
In more activist news, Elle magazine has awarded the aforementioned Mr. Champion an "eco-illuminator" award in its new issue. The publication openly phrased the meteorologist for inserting an agenda into his weather reports:
SAM CHAMPION
Weathering Heights
One of the strangest disconnects over the past several years has been that TV meteorologists have been talking about the unseasonably warm winters, early springs, heat waves, and other erratic weather—yet, until recently, they never mentioned the words global warming or climate change. Champion changed that: On one of his first assignments as weather anchor for Good Morning America, in late 2006, he traveled to Iceland and witnessed firsthand the melting ice cap. Since then, he’s been saying the forbidden words loud, and saying them proud, to a mass-market audience. "I have the perfect venue," says Champion, who does one green segment a week. "People want to hear about it, and they want to talk about it."
To show you what kind of company Champion is in, the magazine also gave an award to this summer's Democratic National Convention, to be held in Denver. "...They’ll be in for the greenest Democratic National Convention in history," Elle applauded. Finally, the magazine also congratulated the work of No Impact Man, Colin Beavan. NewsBusters readers may know him as the radical environmentalist who is giving up, not just electricity, but also toilet paper. To bring it full circle, Champion has twice promoted Beavan on GMA. As Earth Day appoaches, viewers can expect more environmental lecturing from Champion. One question though, are the expensive suits he wears second hand? Does Champion know how much energy is wasted to make new ones?
A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:41am on April 18, follows:
SAM CHAMPION: We are counting down to Earth Day right here on the old GMA show. Showing you know how to live greener. And this morning, we're focusing on the little changes that can make a big impact on the planet. Now, we've enlisted the help of our friends at the environmental website IdealBite.com who are giving one family a green make-over, you could call it. But it's something that we can all learn from. Planet Earth, it's home to over six billion people. And we share the planet with wildlife and plant life. So, how do we take care of our most precious resources? Our loved ones. Well, maybe one step at a time.
HEATHER STEPHENSON: Hi, I'm Heather.
JENNIFER BOULDEN: And I'm Jen from IdealBite.com.
CHAMPION: Three years ago, Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden co-founded IdealBite.com, a website dedicated to helping make our lives a little bit greener through simpler and practical bite-sized tips. They believe that even the small steps can make a big difference. So, we asked our ideal ladies if they could teach one family how to get their green on.
[Knocks on door of home. Rest of segment is Boulden and Stephenson touring the home and making suggestions.]
CHAMPION: Michelle and Scott McCuen (PH) have two very important reasons for wanting a more eco-friendly life style. Four and a half year-old Mason and two and a half year-old Maddix.
SCOTT MCCUEN: We have two kids now and we just want to teach them early how to help the Earth and, you know, teach them about green and start them young.
STEPHENSON: Yeah. Great. That sounds great. Let's get started. The more we can look for toys that don't incorporate plastic in it, the better. These are wooden-based toys, painted with environmentally friendly paint. And what's really great about these toys, you know, obviously they're going to grow out of them. You know, he's going to grow up. They're going to grow out of them. They're going to want other things. So, find a group of people and do a toy swap. 'Cause the best thing that you can do for the environment, actually, is not buy more stuff.
BOULDEN: Let's go through the morning ritual. All right? You're getting ready and reach for your shampoo. Who would have thought that there's actually eco-shampoos out there? There's also organic beauty products available. Same with your makeup. Here is a new idea. It's basically your brushes that are often used plastic for the bristles and raw materials. These are made out of bamboo, and recycled aluminum and then synthetic bristles as opposed to animal bristles or ones again that are petroleum based. And, lastly, you might be putting on your jewelry when we're getting ready.
MICHELLE MCCUEN: Okay. Yes.
BOULDEN: And these type of items actually come from, like, vintage. And that's the best thing you do, in terms of eco, is not have to buy new. People don't think about the fact that when they're wearing new jewelry, it is from the Earth. It has to be mined. A lot of energy goes into that. A lot of chemicals are used in the mining process.
STEPHENSON: Here in your home office, we usually like to think about two different ways that you can get a lot more green in your day-to-day life. The first is dealing with paper. Print two sided. You can set your printers settings so that you print double sided. Everyone gets way too much junk mail. The average person, this is not going to surprise you, gets 11 pieces of junk mail a week. If everyone in the United States actually went online and signed up to have their junk mail reduced, we'd save 11,000 trees. Really, look at the energy use of your appliances. Something that most people don't know, is that their appliances are actually using energy even when you're not using them. So, perfect example, you guys have this cell phone charger plugged in here. All right. 90 percent of the energy that this cell phone charger uses is just evaporating into the air while it's sitting here not plugged into the phone and not charging the phone. Most the people don't want to be pulling plugs though into and out of the wall. So, what you guys have already done, which is great, is you have a power strip that has one of those on/off switches, so when you're not here in your home office, all you have to do is just switch off that switch. It's not only going to help the environment, but it's also going to lower your electricity bills for your home.
SCOTT MCCUEN: Great. Sounds good.
STEPHENSON: It's good stuff.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.



STEPHENSON: Yeah. Great. That sounds great. Let's get started. The more we can look for toys that don't incorporate plastic in it, the better. These are wooden-based toys, painted with environmentally friendly paint. And what's really great about these toys, you know, obviously they're going to grow out of them. You know, he's going to grow up. They're going to grow out of them. They're going to want other things. So, find a group of people and do a toy swap. 'Cause the best thing that you can do for the environment, actually, is not buy more stuff. 












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Comments Policy
Sam 'not hetero' Champion
April 18, 2008 - 13:17 ET by SickofLibsI don't know about Heather, but Sam Champion is not ever going to have any kids that he has to explain to why they can't have 'any new stuff'...
...unless he adopts, if you get my drift. Or unless he becomes be the second 'man' in a month to get pregnant.
Vast Woods
April 18, 2008 - 13:19 ET by allanfAmerica has vast forests full of fruits and berries for nuts like Heather. Live off the land dear. Enjoy.
But please steer clear of the high voltage lines found in a television studio on Broadway and 43rd St in Manhattan.
Beavan the heathen
April 18, 2008 - 13:25 ET by SickofLibsAlmost forgot - Sam championing "No-Toilet-Paper-Beavan"? I would think that, of anybody, Sam would appreciate the integrity of a sparkling clean bunghole. So to speak.
And, and, you know, dude...
April 18, 2008 - 13:24 ET by heldmywyou can like, TOTALLY crochet your own tampons out of the hair that your pets shed, and, and, you know, if we, you know, all just eat a big bowl of dirt, even once a day, we could, like, uh, have peace in our time for the whole world!
Dude! Don't bogart that! Pass it over and give me an award!
Did I show you my macrame dream catchers made out of used dental floss?
No New Toys
April 18, 2008 - 18:16 ET by merlin61OK, now we gotta do away with Santa Claus,
no new businesses, no employment, no advertisement, we just all gotta go back to our
caves. Guess what ---- no TV or TV personalities.
Hows that for getting rid of your own job.
IDIOT BRAIN !!!!!!br
Mason & Maddix - suckling from a wolf
April 18, 2008 - 13:49 ET by SickofLibsCould Mason and Maddix be the new Romulus and Remus?
Yes, excellent. 'Start them young' with this crap and they'll be getting their asses kicked daily once they enter kindergarten.
Mason: "Hey, Billy, wanna come over today and play with my recently recycled wooden toys Mommy got from the toy swap? We could play Amish v. Quakers!"
"Environmentalist" parasites
April 18, 2008 - 13:42 ET by fitzfong"Environmentalist" parasites like Sam Champion inject their toxic propaganda when economic times are relatively good. Like Lisa Simpson, they come in as finger-wagging annoyances attempting to guilt a successful society into slowing down. Eventually, they convince enough self-loathing rubes to change their lifestyles and to browbeat others into doing the same. Then the corporations get hassled by a bunch of know-nothing slobs with bullhorns, and the parasites further wriggle their ways into the host as some corporate heads cave (for fear of being publicly humiliated and physically and economically threatened). Now, when economic times are more difficult...in large part due to the actions of parasites like Sam Champion...the lecturing doesn't stop. In fact, the parasites think they're making progress towards changing minds, so they step up the propaganda. Stories like this, where some ignorant "idealist" not long out of college (and no doubt a professor's bedroom, too) starts preaching to some straw man "family" about watching their consumption in favor of the planet...yeah that's really going to help the nation's ecnonomy. To make a long story short, these "environmentalist" parasites have evolved from minor killjoys to full-fledged, job-killing economic terrorists.
Please forgive me, I can't stop...
April 18, 2008 - 13:43 ET by SickofLibsSTEPHENSON: "The average person, this is not going to surprise you, gets 11 pieces of junk mail a week"
WTF kinda credit rating does this nitwit have where she only gets 11 pieces of junk mail PER WEEK? I get that every day!
I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type
I'm celebrating Earth Day by
April 18, 2008 - 14:36 ET by MidAmericaI'm celebrating Earth Day by cutting down a fully mature tree because I don't like the way it looks. ...and then I'm putting up a six foot tall fence made out PLASTIC(!!!).
why don't they...
April 18, 2008 - 14:52 ET by wizardjrGMA why don't you KMA?! What a bunch of loons. It only reinforces my decision years ago to stop watching network news and views shows. It goes all the way back to Phil Donahue. Now there's a real piece of work.
How typically elitist and leftist at the same time
April 18, 2008 - 15:17 ET by c5thenA journalist making a 7 figure salary (and has been for years) and spending most of it on "stuff" tells the average Joe Q. Public that they shouldn't buy any more "stuff". That's the typical, I got mine now we have to stop everybody else from gettin' any.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Eventually....
April 18, 2008 - 15:18 ET by mbuelIn my opinion, people will eventually get sick of being brow-beaten to be green... frankly, I'd be surprised if it's not starting already. Every time I turn on the TV I have some product manufacturer telling me I can be more "green" by purchasing their product or service.
The whole thing honestly at this point makes me want to dump my trash out in the road out of absolute rebellion against these neo-marxists. Being green really is the new red.
Every time I turn on the TV
April 18, 2008 - 16:16 ET by JasonCEvery time I turn on the TV I have some product manufacturer telling
me I can be more "green" by purchasing their product or service. The whole thing honestly at this point makes me want to dump my
trash out in the road out of absolute rebellion against these
neo-marxists. Being green really is the new red.
No, actually, what you describe is just straight-up business-as-usual consumer-driven capitalism, albeit with a trendy hook.
I find it tremendously ironic that when liberals critique such capitalism in terms of preying on consumers or of shamelessly suggesting that human happiness can be purchased in the form of gadgets and brand-names, conservatives accuse us of being disgruntled anti-free market types engaging in borderline class warfare. Yet, when practically the exact same sort of argument is made against a company who uses what is perceived as leftist politics to sell their stuff, all of a sudden it's an Important Issue, and one surely related to that insidious left-wing bias I keep hearing about.
Who can revolt if man has become a simple conglomerate of organs, a person barely free enough to use a remote control to choose his channel? -J. Kristeva
Don't buy stuff,
April 18, 2008 - 16:03 ET by NorthCoasterand when everyone starts to complain about how bad the economy is, who do you think they'll blame, certainly not these wackos. It's Bush's fault, or big business or free trade or the war .... Oh and we surely can afford to overspend on "Green" labeled products because they are good for us.
(Sarc off)
The sad thing is that most of these efficiencies that they are talking about are simple personal choices to make and have always been available. They make it sound like they've just found the latest revelation. My Parents and Grandparents that went through the depression taught me, "Waste not want not" because it pays to be reasonably frugal and conservative with everything we do.
Weatherhead Champion scolds
April 18, 2008 - 18:10 ET by Seabeach4348Weatherhead Champion scolds us with "don't buy stuff" for the same ridiculous and ficticous reasons that we're all sick of hearing about by now.
Well, Mr. Champion, at my office we automatically continue to receive Time, Rolling Stoned, NewsWeak, etc, and several other liberal rags full of socialist crap written by left-leaning, pseudo-intellectual snot rags like yourself, and I have politely asked the publishers of this trash to kindly not send any more issues because we do not consider them suitable reception room material.
Yet, month after month, our request is ignored, and the maggots continue send them to us. And we continue to trash them, especially if I see them first.
Today I trashed of Rolling Stoned and Time, the lastest issue of Time that disgracefully mocks Iwo Jima Marines, showing them hoising up a stupid tree instead of our flag, in a cheap attempt to equate what the Marines died for in the Pacific conflict with the ficiticious global warming hoax!
I hope those two magazines take a long, long time to rot in a landfill.
Sam Champion is not a Meteorologist
April 18, 2008 - 22:12 ET by PopularTechSam Champion, B.A. Broadcast News (no science degree, not a meteorologist)
It is important to make this distinction since he has no formal training or a meteorological degree. He simply "reads" the weather.
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
But he did stay at a
April 18, 2008 - 22:16 ET by Clear thinkerBut he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!
"Abstain from McCain"