ABC’s Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think about eco-minded celebrities, but she is authentic in both her personal and business life. In an interview with Jennifer Schwab from the Huffington Post, Longoria Parker discussed her earth friendly business and explained why green issues mean so much to her:

“Growing up on a ranch with lots of land and animals, I came to appreciate the beauty of nature and the simplicity of life. It is because of this that I have an intense love for the earth and Mother Nature. My father instilled in me the idea of conservation at an early age and it has stuck with me since. He would take us camping for days at a time and teach us how to eat and survive off the land. He taught us how to find water, what berries to eat off trees, how to plant our own vegetables. I remember my dad always walking around the house turning off lights constantly and always yelling at us if we left the water on while brushing our teeth. To this day, I cannot be in a house where there are lights on in a room that is not being used. And I often yell at Tony for leaving the water on while brushing his teeth. I have managed to carry my conservation ideas into my own life. I don’t use bottled water in the house; we recycle, and use reusable bags at grocery stores. So when the time came to build out Beso and the Nightclub Eve in Vegas, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to do this right for mother earth”.

How exactly did the talented actress and restaurateur manage to make the second Beso an earth friendly business? As anyone who watches entertainment news magazine shows like Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Extra and E! News etc… knows, Beso is an uber trendy and successful L.A. hotspot. “The City Center edition was created as a green version to meet LEED certification, with upgrades such as: a special $350,000 stove hood and scrubber to filter volatile organic kitchen compounds; Swarovski crystals which were reclaimed from the Oscars broadcast for use as chandeliers; reclaimed woods throughout; recycled wallpapers; recycled and compostable to-go boxes; recycled paper menus; a green cleaning crew; lots of natural light to save power during the day; locally sourced building materials to save on shipping and reduce the transportation carbon footprint” according to the Huffington Post article.

However, her green ideals go beyond her earth friendly business, she also lives green at both of her homes in L.A. and Texas. Beyond that “Longoria is also developing the Greenville Project in Portland. This is a refurbished all-green mall that will be converted from an existing building. Greenville is billed as a hip, fully sustainable project that will set the tone for green urban lifestyles.  Its systems will save 1.2 million gallons of water over the current infrastructure, and power costs will decrease by 30 percent. It is scheduled to come on stream in late 2010.” It is encouraging and awe-inspiring that Eva can embody all of her eco-ideals with her earth friendly business endeavors as well as live green at home. This demonstrates that one person can create change, even if it’s not on such a grand scale.

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Tags: ABC, Beso, Beso restaurant, carbon footprint, composting, Desperate Housewives, earth friendly business, Eva Longoria, green building, Green Cleaning, green issues, Greenville, Greenville project, Huffington Post, Jennifer Schwab, LEED, LEED certification, LEED-certified, Oscars, planet forward, Portland, recycled paper, Recycling, sustainable, Swarovski, Tony Parker, Volatile Organic Compound, water conservation

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