Apr 22
Soylent Green— Un/Savory: Food for Thought from 1970s Camp Dystopia
Program Description
The presentation will explore two issues central to the lack of sustainability of global food production: whether its main cause is the increase in human population, or the extremely unequal distribution of wealth and resources between and within countries, and the potential of technological advances to provide healthy and plentiful food for all.
Film Synopsis
With the world ravaged by the greenhouse effect and overpopulation, an NYPD detective investigates the murder of a CEO with ties to the world's main food supply.
The year is 2022. The population of New York City has exploded to over 40 million residents, crammed into tiny apartments, all battling for food. While the wealthy hoard meat, fruit, and vegetables, the have-nots survive on factory-made food produced by a corporate monolith, whose latest product is the mysterious Soylent Green. Although Soylent Green is touted as containing “high-energy plankton,” a tough homicide detective named Thorn (Charlton Heston) finds reason to believe otherwise when he is assigned to investigate the mysterious death of wealthy lawyer William R. Simonson (Joseph Cotten). Initially distracted by such luxuries as Simonson’s contraband bourbon, air-conditioning, and mistress, Thorn soon discovers the late man’s deep-seated ties to the Soylent Corporation, which appear to have troubled his conscience during the last days of his life. As he delves deeper into the investigation, he stumbles upon the horrifying origins of Soylent Green.
About the Speaker
Silvia Secchi (she, her, hers) is a professor in the School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability at the University of Iowa. She studies the interface between agriculture and the environment and the role of policy in addressing the environmental and social impacts of crop and livestock production in extractive agricultural systems, such as the one we have in Iowa. She watched Soylent Green in Italy as a child, and her research interests may or may not be related to that event.