Sam Champion: Dares to Be a Human Beehive

Sam Champion dares to be a beehive to call attention to bee crisis.

ByABC News via logo
March 12, 2008, 12:25 PM

Mar. 13, 2008— -- Chris Cuomo jumped off a 51-story building. Robin Roberts ditched her wig and strutted down a fashion show catwalk. Diane Sawyer walked on burning coals in Times Square. This morning on "Good Morning America," the anchors revealed the last and final stunt, this time for Sam Champion.

Today live on "GMA," meteorologist Sam Champion braved thousands of crawling bees - with stingers.

Sam put aside his fear, working to master control of his emotions, not just for self-control (and because the anchors put him up to it), but also for a good cause.

"I'm not real comfortable around a swarm of bees for some obvious reasons but there's a major world crisis that I want to address. Millions of bees are dying because of a mysterious malady called Colony Collapse Disorder, and without bees many of our crops won't get pollinated. We're talking about $6 billion worth of crops here in America alone! And without that pollination, you can bet that the world's food supply is going to take a major hit," explained Champion.

Some beekeepers in states reporting Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) have lost 50 to 90 percent of their colonies, often within a matter of weeks. This translates into thousands of dead colonies and millions of dead bees.

Champion says that one way people at home can help is by becoming beekeepers themselves, keeping a colony or hive alive. They're easy enough to order in the mail and can help resolve this mysterious crisis in the short term.

Click here to learn more about Colony Collapse Disorder.