Keeping Up With the Begleys

Classic television is ripe with pesky neighbors; on "Seinfeld" Kramer always showed up just in time to eat all of Jerry's cereal, Fred and Ethel Mertz always seemed to end up on the wrong side of Lucy's schemes on "I Love Lucy," and Ned Flanders always shows up just in time to hear homer say "D'oh!" on "The Simpsons." So it seems fitting that Hollywood's latest neighborly feud is heating up between two television veterans.

Ed Begley Jr., who is as well known for his environmental activism as for his roles on shows like "St. Elsewhere" and "Battlestar Galactica," and Bill Nye, the former host of the children's television show "Bill Nye the Science Guy," have started a battle of environmental one-upmanship in their Studio City neighborhood. It's a race to see who can create the greenest home!

"Bill announced it: 'I'm going to best Ed Begley at his own game. I'm going to get him,'" Freema Rood, who lives between the two houses told the Associated Press. "He ordered panels for the garage, then rain barrels, then he had his windows done and he put in a vegetable garden."

While Begley has been living the green life since the 70s (when it wasn't considered hip), Nye has only gotten into the act recently, but is right on his neighbor's heels. When Begley erected a fence made from recycled plastic milk cartons, Nye used the same material to build a patio cover. Each of the neighbors are quite fond of solar panels and use them for everything from powering electric fences to illuminating American flags at night.

They say good fences make good neighbors, but in this case we think good neighbors make each other be better citizens! Perhaps you've got a kooky neighbor you can strike up a friendly green home battle with. Anyone ready to start an eco-challenge on their street?