In general I'll take any excuse to go see a kid's movie. Aside from the fact that I'm currently at the stage in my life where I find six year-olds to be annoying, content created for them often seems to be extremely entertaining. Proving, once again, that since I'm a grown-up now...it's my turn to decide what that means.

But, obviously, as chief geek here at EcoGeek I had to go see Wall*E; the story of a little solar-powered robot left behind to take care of the mess left on Earth. The result, aside from a wonderful and humorous love story in which the robots seem considerably more human than humans, contains some interesting ideas about the environment and technology.

In the movie, the Earth is abandoned in about 2110...about 100 years from now. In that time, we've made some good advances in renewable energy, and even efficiency, but it wasn't enough.

Wall*E himself is the most prominent example of clean technology. We've covered robots that may help to sort trash, or break it down into more manageable chunks. But obviously Wall*E's finest clean technology are his exceptionally (in fact, impossibly) efficient solar panels. Just like the Solio charger, Wall*E's panels expand and fold-out to become larger than the surface area of Wall*E himself.

However, the surface area of the panels, at most two feet square, won't ever provide enough electricity for Wall*E's roving and trash compacting (never mind his high-powered laser.) To actually renewably charge the army of self-sustaining robots (of which Wall*E is the last remaining survivor) a huge solar array would need to be maintained (by other robots) and Wall*E would have to visit it regularly for recharges.

Alternately, it's possible that an invisible and undiscussed satellite array is collecting huge amounts of energy in orbit around the earth. And when Wall*E needs a charge he calls down a super-powerful beam of photons or microwaves. That would allow him to charge for a full day's work in a matter of minutes.

Additionally, on the post-apocalyptic earth, advertisements are solar powered and holographic projections for the mega-corps who have taken over as our government are only turned on when they detect movement.

Aside from the disturbing idea that Wal-Mart may one day be our government, it's true that they're using similar technology to turn off display lights when there are no shoppers, saving tons of electricity. And they have what may turn out to be the largest privately owned collection of solar panels in the world.

Father’s Day is June 15th and if you haven’t gotten a gift yet it’s time to start scrambling. Here are a few suggestions for those of you who would like to make Dad and the planet happy.

If you have a Dad who hasn’t jumped onto the Inconvenient Truth bandwagon yet try a new approach by giving him: Go Green Live Rich: 50 Ways to Save the Earth (and Get Rich Trying) by financial guru and best selling author David Bach. Bach outlines 50 ways to align environmental values with monetary success like getting a green audit, driving smart (hint: fuel efficiency) and investing in emerging eco companies.

To save trees give your Dad a paperless book reader.  Sony and Amazon are battling this one out so you can take advantage of low prices on both the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader.  The Sony Reader is more stylish but their book buying system is cumbersome whereas the Kindle easily allows you to buy and download books directly to the device with no hassle.

No one likes the current gas prices and everyone could use more exercise, so why not help your father with both by hooking him up with a foldable bicycle? He will never again worry whether his bike will fit in the car, subway, garage, or corner of his office. The Slingshot Foldtech is a high performance mountain bike that will run you about $800. The design will leave him speechless and that’s before he finds out it can fold. For more folding bikes, check out this story.

Does your Dad’s cell phone constantly die? Can he not figure out how to charge his Ipod? Help him. The Solio solar charger is pocket sized, can fit a number of small electric devices, and stores energy up to one year. Solio will even gift wrap the charger in 100% recycled, post-consumer paper for a small fee.

If your father is of the paranoid variety or a survivalist a la Bear Grylls from “Man vs. Wild” then the Lifesaver Bottle should be your gift of choice. The bottle, “removes bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and all other microbiological waterborne pathogens without using chemicals like iodine or chlorine.” For how it works you’ve got to go to the website. The cross section of the bottle looks like a diagram of the space shuttle so I’m not even going to attempt an explanation. He'll never have to buy bottled water again!