MNN - Mother Nature Network

When she’s not playing Carly on ABC’s General Hospital, Laura Wright lives in the Santa Ynez Valley, two hours north of Los Angeles, with her husband, two kids and assorted animals. “We don’t throw any food away -- everything goes to the chickens and the goats or the compost for the garden,” says Wright. “We recycle everything. When you live in the country you can keep giving back.” She and her husband recently entered the wine business and are making their vineyard, Standing Sun, as sustainable and biodynamic as possible.

 

Wright commutes to L.A. several days a week for her soap job, “but it’s worth it for my kids,” she points out, referring to the better quality of life she believes she can give them. “My daughter has nine baby chicks under a heat lamp in a crate her room, and it’s her responsibility to take care of them. I think that’s a good thing.”

 

***

 

ABC's Wipeout host John Henson says he’s “borderline obsessive” when it comes to recycling. “I got very specific about it years ago. I’m the guy that walks around crushing plastic bottles to make them smaller and I make sure I’m using canvas bags at the grocery, not paper or plastic. And if we get a third season pickup, maybe I’ll pop for one of those Priuses.”

 

Henson is enjoying his cushy gig hosting the wacky ABC competition series, which he compares to T-ball: “It doesn’t get any easier as a comic,” he confides. “We accomplish things with the human spine that previously only the good people at Wetzel’s Pretzels have done. We have a team of people whose job it is to devise instruments of torture and ways to hurt people. I’d never want to be a contestant, but I love the vantage point,” he says. “I like my spine the way it is.”

 

***

 

When it comes to being green, House star Lisa Edelstein was an early adopter. “I’m the crazy person that for the last 20 years has brought my own bags to the grocery store,” she declares. “I use environmentally friendly cleaning supplies in my house, I use biodegradable doggie bags and I drive a hybrid. I do what I can. If everybody does what they can it will make an enormous difference,” she says.

 

A vegetarian since she was a teen, Edelstein does own leather shoes and accessories, but says, “There are some wonderful emerging companies that have great vegan shoes and bags and I try to support them as much as possible.” She’s now working on House’s sixth season, which will premiere Sept. 21 on Fox.

 

***

 

Guests on his late night talk show probably won’t notice, but Jimmy Fallon’s NBC studio is completely green. “Everything is recycled materials and green lighting and stuff like that. We're one of the first” to do it. “It’s NBC’s policy -- from-the-ground-up-green.” Is he as eco-friendly at home? “I’m good,” says the comedian, unable to resist a quip. “I use the same piece of toilet paper 10 times.”

 

The former Saturday Night Live cast member has a couple of movies on tap, the to-be-scheduled The Year of Getting to Know Us with Lucy Liu, and Whip It!, the Drew Barrymore-directed roller derby flick in which he plays the emcee. It’s due out Oct. 9.

 

Stay tuned for next week’s Ecollywood column. In the meantime, check out our celeb section and Ecollywood videos.