Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Eco Chick Escapes To: Livia Firth’s Eco Age Boutique in London!

Eco Age’s front window

During my most recent trip across the pond, I stopped by London to check out London Fashion Week and visit my best friend, Jenn, who lives in my second-favorite city in the world (the first is NYC baby!). And thanks to a fortuitous hookup by the lovely Rachel Sarnoff over at Ecostiletto, I got a chance to connect with Livia Firth (yep, wife of Colin!) who runs Eco Age, a fabulous boutique in the Chiswick section of London.

And talk about walking the talk; Livia, as the wife of a Hollywood star, (Colin recently starred in Tom Ford’s directorial debut, A Single Man), is expected to turn up at red-carpet events looking fabulous, and this past Spring she took up Vogue UK’s ‘Green Carpet Challenge‘ – and came off beautifully, exploring all the ways of being sustainably stylish, from repurposing to seeking out designers who use ethical fabrics and dye techniques. Eco fashion at the Golden Globes and the Oscars? Livia did it!

Thanks to Livia Firth for the awesome tour of her store in London!

Livia gave me a tour (see video above) of her store, which carries her own carefully edited (and strictly vetted) selection of eco fashion, home decor, and great gifts, and in the basement, an eco-materials consultancy (which I had no idea of until I was on the tour!). The amazing thing is that with the breadth of categories she covers with what she sells in the store, her awesome recycled furniture initiatives for London Design Festival, and the learning space and consultancy for eco materials (think flooring, tiles, fabrics and wallcovering) Livia’s doing so much besides running a store.
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Eco-Chic Decor from Bacchus-Inspired Aesthetics

Guest post by Shireen Quodosi

What comes more easily in this economy than an assortment of empty wine bottles after you’ve just thrown a smashing get-together? With the preference being on sourcing cheap entertaining ideas, most people now see staying at home with a good meal and great wine as a viable alternative to spending money on restaurants and clubs.

Wine Bottle Ideas:

There are a number of ways to reuse wine bottles. Among the more common ideas are reusing them as water pitchers, votive vases, torches, and flower bed liners. However, there are dozens of other smart options that are rarely explored.

Rewined Recycled Glassware – Get uniquely hued wine bottle glassware made from orphaned bottles left behind at local restaurants and bars.

Water Feeders – On a very hot day or when you’re away, fill the bottles of water and stick them into the pot or soil near your plant. The water will slowly percolate from the bottle and into the soil.

Wine Bottle Chandeliers – In addition to the popular row lighting and pendant lighting, Pottery Barn put together an interesting chandelier with wine bottles strung around it. Even though four dozen other people will likely have the same statement piece, at least you know it’s a unique sustainable element in your home. Plus it catches the light beautifully during the day and especially at sunset.

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Overlooked By the Golden Globes

The team at  Free Range Studios  is responsible for some amazing creative projects that put across the sustainability message.  Their Story of Stuff  with Annie Leonard has reached millions around the world raising awareness about the flow of objects as they move through the materials economy (breaking down the stages of stuff into extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal).

 I’m giving their entertaining and edifying parodies The Meatrix trilogy and Grocery Store Wars, with some majorly edible actors (and some not so yummy ones), two thumbs up!  Karmatube just posted Grocery Store Wars as the video of the week.  These videos are a sure bet for Green Planet nominations!

Swimming With Dolphins: The Reality

This video shows what goes on in the dolphin hunts and includes Hayden Panettiere (of the TV show ‘Heroes’) and a team of surfers who tried to protest and protect the mammals.

Some think swimming with dolphins, or going to see animals/mammals in captivity, is somehow “environmental” or serving some sense of naturalism. While I understand there are marine biologists that nurse creatures back to health, or keep them in captivity because they would die otherwise, the enslavement of healthy animals has never made sense to me.

I read several blog posts on this video; some people feel it is just a photo op for a Hollywood starlet, or they mention so many other important environmental issues not being covered. And what about all the other animals that are near extinction or that have already become extinct that we should focus on? At some point, you have to choose your activism. I have always been fond of aquatic life, growing up with Jacques Cousteau and all things National Geographic, so for me, this video had resonance.

I heard someone talking about swimming with dolphins recently and they discussed what a ‘spiritual experience’ it was and it made me cringe. This video, of the dolphin slaughters that occur in Japan for six months out of the year, shows where some of the dolphins are harvested and the massacre that ensues. The prime specimens are sent for captivity, while others are used for food. Here is more information on the dolphins and how the multi-million dollar industries that support captivity perpetuate the slaughters. The World Society for the Protection of Animals also discusses why swimming with dolphins is wrong, especially for anyone who claims to care for wildlife.

Thanks to Perez Hilton for the initial post on this.

Save The Chimps

We haven’t done a lot on animals/mammals here at Eco Chick, but it seems to me that our relationship with other species is a huge part of our societal experience. Some say I am anthropomorphizing other creatures, and that my passion for animal rights is sentimental at best. I think that being raised on National Geographic PBS specials, picture books of oceanic tours with Jacques Cousteau, and being taught to support the WWF made me predisposed to this ‘big-hearted naivety,’ and I am grateful to my father for always exposing me to the natural world.

The other night I saw a show done by PBS’ Nature called “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History,” that traces the way chimps have been treated in Western culture. Used for space travel, scientific testing, and for entertainment in Hollywood, this creature, that has 99% of the same DNA as humans (closer to us genetically than they are to gorillas,) has suffered horrifying injustices. Some of the chimps shown on the program had not been out of a cage or felt sunlight for fifteen years. This moving study shows the chimps being transported from a bio-medical facility in New Mexico to an island in Florida that was created for them to be free and enjoy their final years in peace without ever having the threat of going back into a laboratory. Save The Chimps, headed by Carole Noon, Ph.D., was founded when the U.S. Air Force announced it was “getting out of the chimpanzee research business.” STC built the sanctuary in Florida for the chimps only. There is no gift shop, there are no viewing pens, and there is no exploitation. If you are interested in volunteering, donating, or giving a memorable gift this year, check out the site of this benevolent organization. You can do everything from donate money to sending some cran-raisins for an adopted chimp. I plan to take my kids to do some volunteer work one day as a mini eco-vacation.