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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roachboy
dogzilla proves my point, in case there was any doubt.
thanks for that.
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I don't know rb, Ed Begley Jr. seems to do just fine walking the talk. He's a point of view that I can respect and understand. He's not just talking it, he's living it.
Quote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/ma...domains-t.html
May 20, 2007
Domains: Ed Begley Jr.
Hollywood and Green
By EDWARD LEWINE
His green roots: It started in 1970, because of the first Earth Day. As a Boy Scout I’d had exposure to the outdoors, and I grew up in very, very, very smoggy L.A. in the ’50s and ’60s. You’d have trouble breathing. By 1970 I said, “I’ve had enough.”
The house when he moved in: There was nothing green about it, except it was small enough not to be an energy burden. There was no insulation. No double-pane windows. My ex-wife picked it in 1988, because we were living out of L.A. and I was commuting in to do “St. Elsewhere.” The show was canceled that year.
First green innovation: I took out the water-sucking lawns front and back. We live in a desert, and you don’t waste water. I now have drought-tolerant California plants like lavender and ceanothus. We also grow produce, which is more efficient then trucking it in using fossil fuels.
Morning routine: I am horizontal. Then I am awake. It’s about 6:30 a.m. I bring my wife, Rachelle Carson, her coffee. I bring my daughter Hayden, 7, her juice. I have tea. My wife and I divide the paper, then I Xerox on 100 percent recycled paper the crossword, the jumble and the Sudoku.
His obsession: I started with solar hot water in the 1980s. In 1990 I put panels on the roof and ran electric off them. The only problem was the type of energy they generated. My answering machine and stereo buzzed. The clocks ran fast. The VCR time was kerflooey. I needed a better device to convert the electrical current, which I got, and things have worked flawlessly ever since.
Favorite gadget: I have nine solar panels on a tracker that follows the sun. At night it goes to the eastern-facing position and runs all day westward. I got it in 1997.
Showing up at the Oscars: I attend each year because I am an Academy governor in the actor’s branch. I take my electric car. Fifteen years ago people thought I was nutty. Now you have Edward Norton, Leo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz taking similar vehicles.
Intense recycling: When I get busy I just put all the recyclable stuff in the blue bin. But sometimes I am able to separate colored paper, white paper and junk mail. This material goes to a special recycling plant that converts it into facial tissue, paper towels, office papers.
Favorite cooking tool: My solar oven. It is an insulated box that sits in the yard and gets up to about 375 degrees on a sunny day. You can make rice and beans or soup in it. It’s the best use of the greenhouse effect I have ever encountered. I’ve got a regular oven, but why waste beautiful methane to boil water?
Worst thing about being green: When you don’t have a recycling bin nearby and you have to carry garbage around in your car to get it home.
Good fences: My white picket fence is made of recycled plastic. The wood fence always needed repainting and replacing. The good thing about the plastic is it never breaks down. The bad thing, it never breaks down. You have to be in it for the long run.
Least green holiday: There’s no question about it, Christmas. There’s all that packaging. For years I wouldn’t buy a real tree. Now we get a regular tree, and it is fully composted.
First green ride: I bought a Taylor-Dunn electric car in 1970. It was essentially a golf cart. It had canvas doors. It had a tiller instead of a steering wheel. I drove it around L.A. and got the reaction I deserved. People thought it was pretty nutty.
What he drives now: A Toyota RAV4. It’s a little S.U.V. It’s fully electric, and I charge it at my house off the solar power. It has a range of 80 miles on one charge. For longer drives I borrow my wife’s Prius.
Burial plans: I’m going to be composted in the backyard. Just kidding. The craziest thing to me is to take 205 pounds of perfectly good organic matter, which is me, and fill it with formaldehyde. I want to be buried with a cardboard box and a sheet and put in the earth.
Going off grid: That means you don’t need power from the utility company. I’ve never been totally off, because the houses around here are too close together and my solar panels are shaded. When I was single I was down to $100 a year of company power. With a wife and daughter we use $600. One learns not to fight.
Second career: I market a line of nontoxic cleaning products, Begley’s Best, as a way of raising money for charity. It is kind of like what Paul Newman does, with Newman’s Own.
His transportation choices: First, walking; second, bike riding; third, public transport; fourth, electric car; fifth, the Prius. When I have to, I will fly. But normally I’ll take the time to drive to where I am going in an energy-efficient car.
Saving water: I collect rainwater with a large barrel connected to the rain gutters of my house. I had to fight my wife to get it in the yard, because it is bright orange.
Bathing routine: My showers are short. The women take longer.
Next big purchase: I am going to dig out an area in the backyard and put in an underground rain cistern. The runoff from the rain gutters will be plumbed to my cistern. There is no aesthetic drawback, and we’ll offset our water use.
Evening routine: If I’m working I take off my makeup. I make dinner, or we go out to eat. Then I get on the computer and pack up the day’s orders for Begley’s Best in an environmentally sound way using shredded papers from the house. I’m in bed by 11 p.m.
Favorite recent gift: My electric bike from Izip. It’s a light bike and you can pedal, but if you need some assistance going up a hill, the power kicks in. It is a perfect way to get more comfortable biking.
Least green habit: There are moments when we get takeout. The containers are not always recyclable, and you don’t want to use a ton of water to clean them for recycling.
Exercise routine: Every stationary bike in America is plugged into the wall the wrong way. They are using power! Mine does the reverse. I generate enough power from 15 minutes of biking to run my computer all day.
Favorite family memento: My father, Ed Begley, was an actor. I have the Oscar he won for best supporting actor in 1962 for the film “Sweet Bird of Youth.” I keep it on the mantel.
Favorite food: I’m a vegan. I make a real nice veggie curry.
Favorite career memento: My lab coat from “St. Elsewhere.”
Reason for optimism: I am hopeful. Look what we did in L.A. We’ve cleaned up the air so much. Look what we did with the ozone layer. We have to get aggressive, but we can make big changes. There’s reason for hope, but you can’t sit by.
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