EcoGeek's guide to saying 'thanks' to Dad

Father’s Day is June 15 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 its 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 die all the time? Help him. The Solio solar charger is pocket-sized, charges a number of small 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!