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You may have seen Pixar's new animated film, WALL-E. Unlike the studio's usual comedic turns, the new movie has a powerful message to get across: the planet is running to ruin because of our wasteful ways and insatiable appetite for consumerism.It's hardly a new message. In the UAE, where constant air-conditioning, oversized cars (carrying a single occupant), a lack of organised recycling, frequent jet travel, water desalination and 24-hour construction are de rigueur, we are among the world's worst culprits. A cursory glance through the international press in the morning can feel like an LAPD-style beating from the eco-police for those who live here.Yet the release of a high-budget movie with broad appeal can only be another step in the right direction. Judging by the number of plastic bags the average UAE shopkeeper would have you leave his premises with - and the number of bags many people accept, or even demand - the message hasn't penetrated yet.WALL-E's bleak vision of a refuse-filled future on Earth may shock those expecting cutesy Finding Nemo-style escapades. The Pixar artists have dug into the darkest recesses of their imaginations to show us where we could be heading if we continue to consume corporate mass marketing and also ignore the very real issues threatening our planet.

But there is a problem with making a film of this nature. If you should practise what you preach, then Disney (Pixar's parent company) should probably consider its role in the environment, too. Because while its celluloid is a call-to-arms for planetary health, it's new Ultimate WALL-E remote-control robot (available to pre-order from DisneyShopping.com for $249) is certainly not.The programmable toy can dance, play music and talk while his eyes light up and blink in the manner of the animated robot in the film. But the web site also admits he 'contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects.'And that's before we even get to his ecological rucksack, the name given to the amount of natural material employed to create a product (a mobile phone has an ecological rucksack of around 75kg, an aluminium can is around 8kg, etc). Since WALL-E will probably be made from fossil plastics in China, then shipped halfway around the world, he's likely to carry a fairly weighty rucksack of his own, especially when you consider that each of his microchips will probably cost the environment a hundred thousand times their eventual weight.Perhaps Disney's merchandising department didn't consider the hypocrisy of bringing this toy to the market, but it's a shame that a company brave enough

to make a high-budget film with a strong message on the environment can't resist making a quick buck by flouting its own guidance.

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