FULCHER, Lance Jaime A.

07/04/2021
2018103967 Engr. Magtibay
Reflection Paper 2: Soylent Green Movie
1. What are the environmental issues portrayed in the film?
Despite the fact that Soylent Green first aired in 1973, many of its environmental and
political issues are much more relevant today than they were then. The first obvious
environmental problem is overpopulation. Overpopulation is defined as a group of
individuals that grows faster number-wise than it can support in a given environment or habitat.
Overpopulation is caused by a rise in the rate of birth, a decrease in the rate of mortality,
migration to a new ecological niche with fewer predators, or a rapid drop in available resources.
Additionally, since there is an overpopulation issues, there will be food shortage. When food
resources within a limited territory are insufficient to meet the population's energy and nutritional
needs, a food crisis arises. Moreover, all kinds of pollution are depicted in the movie. Air, soil,
and water pollution all can be seen from smokes of the cars, soil contamination, and water
poisoning. Below is the scene in the movie describing the overpopulation and air pollution issues
in the Soylent Green World.

Figure 1. A scene in the movie depicting some of the issues.

There are some issues but not considered as environmental but a very toxic culture for us.
Sexism and Class Divisions are one of them. Soylent Green may have been making the argument
that women are more susceptible to unfair treatment in societies with extreme economic
inequality, as seen in the real world today and would be true especially if the Soylent Green

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 world were made to existence, by handling its women roles as objects. We can also see that the
rich ones always have the injustice treatment.
2. Discuss why those environmental issues occurred. What happened to the resources from the
ecosystems which previously being provided to the people?
In the movie, at year 2022, New York City has a population of 40,000,000 people. That's
a lot for a city that isn't big enough to accommodate that many people. And because of the
overcrowding, before many people possess a car, they may have to go by air or sea, as seen in the
first photos. Because engines generate waste gases and undesired air, automobiles, aircraft, and
ships are major sources of air pollution. There are also footage showing factories releasing
enormous amounts of black fumes, with no plant in sight to filter the air. Ships contribute to
water pollution by spilling oil and releasing chemical waste, as well as causing noise pollution.
And, as a result of people's carelessness, there is a lot of rubbish that can be seen everywhere.

Figure 2. A scene in the movie where Soylent Green Food was depicted.
A point in the movie where all possible problems you can think of arises. People have no
access to their daily needs, especially food. Greenhouse effect is slowly killing them due to
increasing pollution affecting the ozone. Many of the humans are in the street barely surviving.
Everyone is using protective gears as well just to outlast the poisonous pollutants and smoke.
Plants and animals are also dying in the movie and cannot multiply due to the harsh conditions of
the environment. Even abiotic factors of the environment are considered to be in a extreme
conditions. I was saddened while watching this movie because they had been eating a cube-
shaped food called Soylent Green, which was a miracle diet made from high-energy plankton,
and they were running out of supply, and people would rather die than suffer any longer. It's
awful to think that if we had continued our lives before the pandemic, we wouldn't be in this
predicament now.

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 3. Describe the agencies involved in the environmental issues, their role, and their actions.
In the film, there is just one agency: the Soylent Corporation. The Soylent Corporation
distributes food in the shape of a cube throughout the United States. They have Soylent Red and
Soylent Yellow and their tasty newest miracle food, high-energy plankton. There is a twist in the
movie though the overpopulation crisis causes so many other issues, such as pollution and food
from natural resources. The people were unaware that the corporation manufactured their newest
Soylent Green from the bodies of individuals who had died. This is an unethical way of
distributing food and they must find a way to solve other problems before going all into this
concept. This action is considered accidental cannibalism.

Figure 3. A scene in the movie where people are in chaos just because of the food.
I think there are a lot of corporations involved in the movie either implied since they do
nothing or just controlled by the ultimate corporation. The agencies must not take problems
lightly in the first place. They must work together to solve issue by issue. A perfect example is
the World Health Organization. Assisting nations in reinforcing health services; developing and
maintaining technical and administrative services, such as immunological and predictive
services; promoting disease eradication; and nutrition security, housing, sanitary conditions, and
employment conditions are all part of their responsibilities. Soylent Corporation has a very bad
management and control to people that will surely lead to collapse.

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 4. Give your opinion on the solutions applied (e.g., technology, regulations) to address the
environmental problem, if useful or not useful. Justify your answer.
Every Tuesday, they only give out Soylent green food to the population. This is a system
of the Soylent Corporation to address the food shortage issue. The film depicted cannibalism as a
way of survival since the food is made up of human meat. This is a very inhumane way of
solving the problem and it is not useful. They are making everything worse. Human meat when
eaten by fellow humans are scientifically proven to be dangerous. Even if they developed a
machine getting rid of the possible bacteria or virus, they must have at least the consent of the
people which is unlikely because of the “evil” concept.

Figure 4. Image depicting the unfair pricing of the only food for the people which turned out to
be made of dead or euthanized individuals.
Another solution presented by the malevolent corporation is the euthanasia. Mercy killing
is the method of putting to death people suffering from a severe and incurable sickness or a
physically incapacitating ailment without pain or permitting them to die without treatment or
mechanical life-support measures. This is worse than the accidental cannibalism since in the
movie, the corporation tends to choose who to kill, and social class is one of the factors. Again,
there is no useful solution here. There are a lot more solutions proposed by the corporation but
all of them are bad. That’s why Soylent Corporation is one or the evilest corporation ever made
in movie history.

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 5. If you are given a chance to be the environmental and sanitary engineer in the film, what
solutions would you recommend?
First and foremost, I would suggest creating a space where people may plant and nurture
trees. Planting more trees across the world helps preserve healthy soils and humidity levels in the
air. It all starts with trees controlling the water cycle. Trees absorb air and return it to the
atmosphere through transpiration, thereby filtering and regulating humidity levels wherever they
exist. Moreover, creating a suitable waste disposal system and encouraging people to participate
in a cleanliness effort will reduce the population. Engineers must create a sewage and water
system, as well as plant-aiding system along the stream's edge. Design for cleaner and more
efficient engines. And then re-evaluate to see if anything further can be done to enhance or
minimize pollution in the environment.
Now, for the overpopulation, there must be a child policy until the world has a stable
population. Discipline all people especially those who are into survival-of-the-fittest thinking.
All must coordinate according to plan to help resolve and slowly revive the dying Earth. Kill the
social classes and empower the women as it is very essential in birth control. Even though, I am
a sanitary engineer, I must promote family planning with the help of government incentives.
Defeat all corrupt corporation and work as one. You will not be able to defeat a whole
corporation by your own. There are a lot more ways I can suggest but the most important one is
do the best you can while asking for guidance from the Man Above.
“People were always rotten. But the world 'was' beautiful.” – Sol Roth (Soylent Green Cast)

References:

January 7, 2016D. (2016, March 4). Soylent Green: Environmental Crisis or Sexism. Marianne
de Pierres. http://www.mariannedepierres.com/soylent-green-energy-crisis-overpopulation-
and-sexism/.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, May 12). Soylent Green. Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green.

Knipfel, J., Knipfel, J., Lambie, R., Lambie, R., Mickel, A., Mickel, A., Baxter, J., Baxter, J.,
Whiteley, A., Whiteley, A., Cummins, C., Cummins, C., Saavedra, J., Saavedra, J., Matar,
J., Matar, J., Martin, A., & Martin, A. (2018, May 9). Why Soylent Green is More Relevant
Now Than Ever. Den of Geek. https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/why-soylent-green-is-
more-relevant-now-than-ever/.

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