The 20th century's industrialization led to overcrowding and Earth-wide pollution. Natural resources exhausted, nourishment of the population is provided by Soylent Industries, a company that makes food from ocean plankton. In 2022, 40 million people live in New York City; housing is dilapidated; homeless people fill the streets; many are unemployed; those few with jobs are only barely scraping by and food and working technology are scarce with most of the population surviving on rations produced by the Soylent Corporation. Their latest product is Soylent Green, a green wafer advertised to contain "high-energy plankton" from the oceans of the world, more nutritious and palatable than its predecessors "Red" and "Yellow" but in short supply.