painter ventures out in pursuit of nature's hues Enviromental list of 12 things Ed Begley Jr. does at home Bluegrass, Celtic music due at Ojai performance pedals a bike to burn up his morning toast and boot up his computer, and is about to dig up his yard to put in an underground bin to collect rainwater. He's turned his Studio City home into an eco-friendly shrine, the nerve center for his HGTV show that artfully blends his longtime loves of acting and environmentalism.
A decade or so ago, they thought he was nuts when he'd show up at the Academy Awards in his electric car (he's had one since 1970) or riding his bike. Now, the plethora of planet-conscious things he does around the home seems more smart than silly, even if Begley takes "green" a few shades deeper than most and his place might still be a speck amid society's conspicuous consumerism. An environmental spokesman who truly practices what he preaches, Begley will be back in Ventura on Saturday to demonstrate his line of nontoxic cleansing products (called Begley's Best) and then give a talk about how to live simply so others can simply live, a borrowing from a Mohandas Gandhi saying.
With more scientific studies bemoaning the ills of global warming, and with his HGTV show "Living with Ed" on the eve of a second season with new episodes airing late next month, green is suddenly hip and Begley is its poster boy. This spring, Time magazine dubbed him "the star of climate change." Indeed, long before Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," before Hurricane Katrina and global warming became nightmare eco-buzz terms, and before the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio began driving up to Hollywood's red carpets in alternative-fuel vehicles, Begley was a cry in this particular wilderness.
Begley, 57, isn't the least bit angry about this, nor does he stick it to the conservatives or lord it over anyone's head. "People come to this realization when they come to it," Begley said by phone from his home last week. "There's no point in saying, I told you so.
'" He was by turns soft-spoken and serious, his comments sprinkled with a sly sense of humor. He doesn't see what the fuss is all about; anyone can do what he does. To him, it's all perfectly natural.
"It cleans the air, lessens our dependence on foreign oil and puts money in your pocket; how can that be bad?" he said. "I just try in every way to be as energy-efficient as possible.
" Through his show, we learn that Begley pedals his stationary bike to generate power to make toast. The bike is plugged into a battery bank and he uses an inverter to convert the energy to power the toaster. Ten minutes on the pedals is enough to burn two slices of bread; another 15 minutes of footwork is enough to run his computer all day, Begley said.
Begley also grows his own food (he's a vegan and has fruit trees in the yard), has a white picket fence made from recycled milk jugs, recycles, composts and uses solar power. The show documents all this well. But part of its appeal is the byplay between Begley and his wife, actress Rachelle Carson, who while green doesn't have near the fervor for it he does.
When he put barrels below the downspouts to collect rain, she balked at it as an eyesore. Hence, the move to put in an underground cistern to do the job; it, Begley noted, will store runoff to later water plants and take showers. "If you plan it right," he said, "you get water for a huge portion of the year.
" Showers were another sticking point in the Begley household; it's been said that he used to time her showers, which Begley didn't exactly deny. "I'm in and out in three minutes," he said. "Rachelle takes longer showers, but a woman has more to do in there, so I try to be understanding about that.
" The upcoming second season of "Living With Ed" will branch out with visits to the "green" homes of celebrities such as Cheryl Tiegs, Jackson Browne and Larry Hagman, who lives atop Sulphur Mountain near Ojai. "It's a good way to get people into the tent, with some entertainment," explained Begley, who lived in Ojai from 1984 to 1988. His long list of green practices looks daunting; any major change, he noted, seems overwhelming at first.
His advice to wannabes is to ease into it and do the best you can. "Do the simple stuff first," he said. "Don't run up to Mount Everest right away.
Try to get to base camp. And not everyone gets to the summit." His eco-leanings, Begley said, stemmed from growing up in the San Fernando Valley (he's the son of the late Oscar-winning actor Ed Begley).
"By 1970, I'd finally had a bellyful — all that smog — and I said, Enough,'" he recalled. He bought his first electric car that year; the first Earth Day that same year also influenced him. He also started composting and recycling, and buying biodegradable products.
Things really took root when he moved to the Studio City home — a simple one-story, 1,700-square-foot, 1930s-vintage dwelling — in 1988. Begley tore out the thirsty lawn and put in drought-tolerant plants such as ceanothus, toyon, lavender and sage. He installed compact fluorescent bulbs in every outlet, went to an energy-saving thermostat and bought a solar-powered oven.
"Everything I just mentioned," he said, "is dirt cheap." Begley gets no salary or income from his line of nontoxic cleansing products. He wants to do something similar to what actor Paul Newman has done with his Newman's Own food product line that gives all proceeds to children's charities, only Begley's products will raise money for environmental groups such as the Coalition for Clean Air and Heal the Bay.
At times, his life is a little paler than emerald. Sometimes, the takeout he ordered doesn't come in recyclable containers. When he's on the road and can't find a recycling bin, he won't carry stuff around with him — aluminum he will, but not glass.
If he's in Los Angeles and has to be in New York the next day, he'll fly like everyone else. But these are rare exceptions. With all the green coloring his life, it's easy to forget he's an actor who has more than 200 credits on his resume in a 40-year career that began in 1967 at age 17 with a role on "My Three Sons.
" As the son of an actor, he says, all he ever wanted to be was an actor, and he wanted people to know. He came home with "My Three Sons" all over his face, literally. "I was wearing my makeup on my paper route, hoping that someone would notice it and say, Are you an actor?
'" he said. Outside his HGTV show, Begley's recent work has spotlighted variety; he's had recurring roles in "Veronica Mars," "Arrested Development" and "Six Feet Under" and appeared on the big screen in "For Your Consideration." He is perhaps best known for garnering six Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nod for his role as Dr.
Victor Ehrlich on the 1980s NBC hospital show "St. Though he never copped a top prize, Begley displays his dad's Oscar right over his mantle, which has worked its way into the show. Given the small house's clutter, the Oscar is in an interesting space.
The best place for the kitty litter box is behind the piano near the mantle, Begley noted. The Oscar statue is said to be 3 feet from the kitty litter box. "It's a good four and a half feet away," Begley said half-jokingly, mild protest in his voice.
"Three feet is Rachelle's exaggeration. That's something in her mind. It's above the kitty litter box, too.
And you can't take both in with one glance." This from the man who jokingly told the New York Times that his burial plan is to be composted in his backyard. And if there's something green to be done involving an Oscar statue and a litter box, Ed Begley Jr.
probably will find it.
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