Ed Begley Goes Green

HGTV's Living with Ed Offer Eco Tips

Hollywood actress Rachelle Carson-Begley is married to Ed Begley, six-time Emmy-nominated actor and one of the original environmentalists. When Ed first cracked out the solar panels in the late '80s, Rachelle thought he was crazy. Fast forward and Rachelle found herself moving into Ed's "frat house" and living off the grid. Rachelle says she's a little envious of Cheryl Tiegs' pool, but at least she's living guilt-free.

Living with Ed on HGTV very much reflects the way we live. Everyone asks me if I’m freaked out to have my home opened up on reality TV. I guess I should be, but we’re actors. I wasn’t always a greenie, but it’s ironic that I wasn’t, because my father named me after Rachel Carson, who was really the first environmental writer in the '50s and '60s.

As the '60s and '70s progressed, I started to notice pollution. The air was terrible. My first month in LA I was sick because of the smog. When I moved to Hollywood from New York in the '80s, bigger was better…big consumption was a lifestyle.

I moved to Canada from LA in the early 90s and I was very impressed with the environmental code there. Canadians were ahead of the curve. It occurred to me then how precious the world was. As soon as I moved back to LA I met Ed. I had gone on a river rafting trip and I wanted to give back, so I volunteered at a Friends of the River event, for which Ed was the emcee.

Ed was one of the first people I ever heard talk on the environment. Ed doesn’t proselytize, but he is a man who walks his talk and he doesn’t compromise at all. Ed would be really happy in a tee-pee in a desert somewhere. This little house was set up like a bachelor pad; it's an old 1920s house and Ed literally had furniture from the '60s. I didn’t spend a lot of money, but I changed the curtains, bought shutters, reupholstered antique chairs. It’s very eclectic. There’s a story behind every piece of furniture in the house.

Green Fashion

Environmentalism and glamour didn’t go in hand for a long time. The green movement has become chic now, and that’s fabulous. If it’s chic, it’s easier to find designers who want to work with organic materials. More fraught with difficulties is getting to red carpet events. We always go to the Oscars in an electric car, while everyone else is in limos. On the bright side, there are green limousines that use bio-diesel, but that’s only recently, in the last three years.

My life is very different than what I envisioned. I still envy, on some level, the people who have the house, the pool and there’s an episode of Living with Ed in which we go over to Cheryl Tiegs’ house. It’s stunningly gorgeous. Cheryl, in all sincerity, asks me, “Well, how do you guys heat your pool?” I envy her, but I don’t have to pay her bills, which I know are astronomical. Also, there’s no guilt. I really know that I’m doing my part. It’s not that big a sacrifice.

I hope people wake up and start making changes in their own lives so that we will reduce greenhouse gases. Global warming is here, it’s not a myth. We really have to look at the extreme weather patterns, which are already affecting us. My biggest hope is that if we start taking care of the environment, we may start taking care of each other. If everyone starts to live like we do, then maybe I won’t feel so alone.