By any standard, actor Ed Begley Jr. has had a very good career. Since making his mark in series like Room 222 and St. Elsewhere in the 1970s and ’80s, he has appeared in numerous plays, movies and television programs going on nearly four decades.
But since the time Americans first saw him on the screen (in Disney’s The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes), the native Hollywood citizen has been a committed environmentalist.
With his second book on being green having just been published — Ed Begley Jr.’s Guide To Sustainable Living: Learning to Conserve Resources and Manage an Eco-Conscious Life — the just-turned-60 actor will be making appearances this weekend at USF.
In the introduction to the book, Begley Jr. writes that the last two years of his life have been “unbelievable,” filling him with hope that Americans finally “get it” when it comes to dealing with the environmental challenges we all face.
When I asked him by telephone last week if ever became frustrated at how long it’s taken for the country to gain the consciousness he’s had for so long, he admitted he wished things would have happened quicker, but says he’s just grateful that people want to do something.
“I travel across the country, and meet Red State people, and Blue State people, and they all want to do something to lessen our dependence on Mideast oil, clean up the air in our cities and put money in their pockets.”
In a state that remains as progressive as any place in the country, Begley Jr. said he became hyper-aware of his environment simply by living in smoggy Los Angeles.
“I’d had a bellyful of it for two decades. It was very bad air back then. It was hard to run across a playground. In 1970, when Earth Day came around, I was on board. I wanted to do something, because I knew it wasn’t right.”
He said that as a struggling actor back in the ’70s, he had a very limited budget, so he did things “on the cheap,” which he recommends for those just starting out and wanting to live a more sustainable lifestyle today. “I began recycling, because that didn’t cost me anything. I started composting. I rode my bike more than I already did, I took public transportation more than I ever did. All that stuff was inexpensive.”
The actor, also the host of the cable channel Green Planet’s Living With Ed, said that one of the things he’ll be talking about at USF is GreenSwitch, a new concept developed by Magnum Energy Solutions. GreenSwitch uses wireless technology to turn off electrical outlets and light switches, helping home owners to reduce energy consumption by as much as 25 percent. “You want to save some energy from vampire power,” he says, calling it that because “it’s sucking from you, giving you nothing in return.”
When asked if he had any thoughts about a recent proposal by Tampa City Councilman Charlie Miranda to have the city begin treating its waste water for human consumption, he said, “There’s a lot of people who bristle at the idea of toilet-to-tap. But the truth is: all water over millions of years is toilet-to-tap. You just can’t let the bad stuff get in your water supply.”
In his book, Begley Jr. writes about using “gray water” at home. That’s water that has been used anyplace else in the home — shower, clothes washer, dishwater. “I take that and I filter it really good, I put it through a 600 micron filter, a 200 micron filter, coal, UV light. By the time I’m done, it’s really clean water, and I use that to irrigate.”
Begley is scheduled to address the 4th annual Campus & Community Sustainability Conference at noon on Friday Oct. 9 in the Marshall Student Center on USF’s Tampa campus.
He will appear at USF’s Going Green Tampa Bay Expo, which is open to the public, on Saturday Oct. 10. You can get more information at goinggreentampabay.com.
For more information on Ed Begley Jr., go to edbegley.com.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2009.
