Comments for The Environmental Technology of Wall*E at http://www.ecogeek.org , comment 1 to 23 out of 20 comments http://www.ecogeek.org Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:23:16 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-16064 Personally, I think the movie isn't just for kids. It is targeted for the general audience just like many other recent successful animations such as Shreks, the Incredibles, Finding Nemo etc. However, I particularly like Wall-E alot because it isnt the normal animation featuring silly-humor, super-charged heroism, and/or talking animals. It is instead an interesting vision of the future painted by stunning visuals of the world and space. All in all I think the movie was successful in getting adults or even kids to think more about the environment and wonder about our future. For the sake of fun discussion a few other inaccuracies I noticed were on the cruiseship they launch massive amount of metal junks into space (what happened to conservation of mass? how do they restock metals/materials?), mostly white people in future (what happened to diversity? =D), a plant in space would not survive (the part where walle escaped the self-destructing pod with the plant and met with Eva in space) as the water pressure difference would explode the little thing, how do humans make babies if they're indifference about each other and too overweight to do anything? it takes 700 yrs for human bone structure to deteriorate that much? when they return to earth, the movie doesnt say how the humans are gonna address the previous "trash" output problems that caused them to leave earth in the first place. - Tuan Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:25:38 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15525 Unfortunately I saw this post before seeing the movie, so the whole time I was explaining things to my girlfriend. I mostly had problems with other inaccurate parts of the movie, since I don't know much about new sciences. Maybe I'm just PMSing, but I balled at the end. I thought it was really good at bringing the idea of a wasted planet forward. Also, awesome love story. - Melanie Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:01:34 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15518 [quote]Moore's Law for Solar?[/quote] Moore's law can only work when there's possibilities for continuous large advancements, which isn't the case for solar panels, as they have a maximum theoretical efficiency of 100% (although in reality, it's probably something more like 99%), and once they get there, that's it (they're about 30% at the moment). As for solar powered cars, and making them more viable if we make the engines more efficient, well it turns out some of the engines have up to 98% efficiency (so not much room for improvement there then) - Clinch Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:31:11 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15515 I watched Wall*e a couple days ago and couldn't help but notice all of the issues in the film.(thanks english classes...) So, in a nutshell, the movie criticizes modern-day issues by showing the future where those same issues (lack of environmental concern, the increasing divide between the rich [consumerist ideal - humans] and the poor [working ideal - robots], and the lack of political intervention) have come to full fruition. Personally, I thought the movie was a great love story and kids movie. I Thoroughly enjoyed it. - Ian Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:00:39 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15510 [i]Sadly ironic that even *right after* seeing a film where trash ruins our planet, people can't even be bothered to take their plastic cup to the nearest recycling bin or trash can. [/i] Job security! - Chris Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:19:56 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15509 To A.L: The first thing my girlfriend said after we left "Supersize Me" was "I really need some Burger King right now." (We never eat at McD's anyway.) And Hank, if you're reading this: I'm sorry. I saw no other way. - Magnulus Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:09:50 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15508 Well, I am one to believe that once Solar panels are produced/manufactured more, that more competition will breed more efficient solar panels, batteries, motors, etc... I believe(pray) that day will be coming soon. - Dan Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:37:07 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15507 Went and saw this movie on Saturday, and while I loved the movie both from an entertainment and environmental perspective, after the movie was over it was terribly depressing to see all the trash left around the theater! Sadly ironic that even *right after* seeing a film where trash ruins our planet, people can't even be bothered to take their plastic cup to the nearest recycling bin or trash can. - A. L. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:27:32 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15506 The writer of his post got it wrong. Wall-E *is* about the environment...and love, and friendship, and courage, and selflessness. Like any good story, it's not about just one thing, and it's not heavy handed in pushing any one agenda. Sometimes I think the worst part about geeks is that often they're not very complex or holistic thinkers. - Drew Long Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:17:30 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15505 I LOVED the movie, mostly because I saw it as a very needed social critique. I hope no one left the theater thinking that that sort of future was acceptable, I certainly didn't. As a geek it's often useful to step back and consider that no amount of exciting, innovative technology won't solve our problems--and I think this was one of the strong messages that the film produced. In the movie the apocalypse was preventable, and only preventable given a level of human compassion for the Earth that surpasses the desire for needless consumption. - Caroline Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:38:02 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15504 Kids won't remember the dimensions of the solar panels. They won't remember the solar panels at all, or the wind turbines. They will remember how awful a world with brown skies and a surface covered in junk is. They will see how beautiful one plant is compared to a mound of garbage. And the garbage wasn't "garbage" as we see it - plastic wrappers and food refuse. It was the stuff of our lives. Eye glasses, toys, video tapes, trinkets. - AJ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:29:28 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15503 There is nothing WW3 can not fix. Kill a couple billion people and we will go back to the dark ages for centuries. - Warrior Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:03:10 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15494 That is possibly the best xkcd comic ever. I went to the xkcd meetup in Cambridge last fall and literally fell all over Randall Munroe out of nerd-fangirlishness. Anyway... My very small cousin asked me if Wall*E could work in real life, and I was torn about what to tell him. Eventually I told him that Wall*E would have to run on solar power and, also, magic, which he found to be a completely satisfactory answer. Because apparently "magic" is my go-to phenomenon-explainer. I probably read too many fantasy novels. I thought Wall*E did a great job of incorporating the environment without being completely obnoxious about it (*cough* The Happening *cough*). And it has adorable robots, so really, what's not to love? - Rachel Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:16:21 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15491 [quote]Leave it to a collection of geeks to over-analyze a children's movie for technological flaws[/quote] Well, this is a geek site, it even has geek in the name, so what did you expect? If you can't understand that, then maybe you shouldn't be here. As for how Wall-E's solar panels get so much juice, maybe there's no ozone layer, and a much thinner atmosphere, so more light gets through, or the earth's orbit has shifted closer to the sun. And while it's highly unlikely that we'll see them anytime soon, I think solar cars are potentially possible for mainstream use. Current solar races have been going since 1985, and, although the cars are completely impractical for normal use, the potential improvements in technology, of increased solar panel efficiency, increased electric engine efficiency, and decreased car weight (using super-lightweight materials), could improve solar cars by ten times or more! (although they would still be useless in places with commonly bad weather) - Clinch Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:09:35 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15488 I can't believe you referred to xkcd as well! I love Wall-E, I love xkcd, I love environmental technology, and I love you for uniting them all into this awesome blog!!! - Conrad Nied Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:34:08 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15487 I may not discuss the feasibility of transporters with the cast members, but I'm proud to discuss it with other geeks :-) I'm not really nitpicking either...at least, not until the comments. I don't care...I just think it's interesting to think about these things. - Hank Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:34:02 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15486 ah, Hank - you are thinking too much! Impossible, smimpossible! - Tracy Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:05:49 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15484 Leave it to a collection of geeks to over-analyze a children's movie for technological flaws. Are you the same people who show up at Star Trek conventions and debate the feasibility of the transporter with the poor cast members? Hey...lighten up, it's meant to be entertaining!!! Do you think kids are going to walk out of the theater pondering solar potential per square meter of surface area, or do you think they'll be laughing about the part where WALL-E finds the fire extinguisher? My guess is the latter. Why not simply praise the film's efforts to foreshadow the consequences of irresponsible environmental practices instead of nit-picking how they did it? - Mad Marcus Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:36:51 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15483 Tracy, it's not that we haven't figured out how to make a small solar panel power something the size of a car (or even Wall*E) It's that it's impossible. You can only collect the amount of energy that that hits the earth. Per square meter, that's about equal to 1000 watts on the sunniest day at high noon. Even with perfect conversion (right now it's about 30%) you'd at least 100 walle sized panels to power a car. - Hank Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:53:52 +0100 http://www.ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/1808#comment-15481 Most of the new solar in the US--including the vast majority of solar installed on WalMart stores--is not actually owned by the customer but by investors, the power being sold to the customers through Power Purchase Agreements. Don't mean this to be a technical quibble, but it's largely the 30% tax credit that attracts investors to these systems and has enabled a lot of growth in the states over the last few years. - Kevin Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:35:24 +0100