Eco-Boutique Spotlight: Actor Colin Firth’s Eco-Friendly Shop In England Offers Green Interior Decorating Services And More

You may know him for his Pride & Prejudice role as Mr. Darcy or in Bridget Jones Diary, The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, Love Actually, Girl With The Pearl Earring and most recently, Momma Mia!, but after opening two fair trade coffee shops in London, Colin Firth opened Eco-Age, a full-service green living store in Chiswick, England.

Together with his wife, and two partners they’ve created a three story ecologically-renovated shop that provides inspiration, services and products for living a greener life. In addition, they’ve started a campaign to make Chiswick the first “eco village” in London by encouraging businesses and homeowners to commit to:

Ban use of plastic bags and replace them with sustainable alternatives.
Campaign local counsel for better commercial recycling programs.
Switch to a green energy supplier.

According to a Times Online (UK) interview with Firth, he had this to say about what he’s doing with his celebrity status:

“The thing is, if you have been given the privileges we have,” says Firth (between bursts of chat about the failure of the Doha trade talks and real change after the G8 summit, trying to meet Peter Mandelson to protest against unfair European bilateral trade agreements, the effect of dumping subsidised American rice on Haiti, and what he calls “the great rip-off of British coffee drinkers at the expense of Ethiopian farmers”), “if you have this many perks, surely you can help out. Rather than being a luvvie with a lofty opinion preaching to people, I prefer to do things, to get involved, put my money where my mouth is and learn along the way.”