fly and buy carbon passes, suzuki tells ed

Ed Begley Jr. that is, star of Living with Ed. Catherine Porter reports back from the Green Toronto Awards last night, kick-off to the Green Living Show here in Toronto:

Green living isn't just a hobby for Begley. It's an informed passion. Just ask him about water quality, and he will spout off words like trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent used as a degreaser found today in groundwater. He agrees that the science on climate change is daunting, and the planet's prognosis is bleak without an all-out commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions (by something like 90 per cent in Canada).

He doesn't expect everyone to get solar panels. Start small, he says. With an energy audit. Maybe some more insulation in your home, so you don't leak carbon-fuelled energy. It will save you money, he says. And get you hooked – so soon, you'll be like him, buying an electric car and brewing up your own all-natural household cleaners.

But what about all that flying? Airplane travel is for carbon junkies. Each round-trip flight Begley takes spews out carbon equivalent to the emissions he saves with two months' worth of solar power generated on his roof. And he takes dozens of flights a year now.

"I didn't fly throughout the 1990s," he said. "But then my friend David Suzuki said, `I think you should start flying and buy Terrapasses (carbon offsets). It's more important that you get the message out there.'"

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