HBO Show Explores Environmental Impact of Eating Meat

Popular documentary series examines the devastating effects the world’s growing appetite for meat has on natural resources.


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Last week’s episode of HBO television program Vice—a documentary series which airs every Friday night—investigated the detrimental environmental effects of the world’s growing appetite for meat. Correspondent Isobel Yeung documented her visits to a slaughterhouse and factory farm, where she saw how the massive scale of producing animals for food caused widespread pollution. As Yeung hovered over a factory-farm operation in a helicopter, she noted the sheer amount of cows beneath her, to which the pilot stated, “That’s how we’re able to get a dollar burger.” This segment—titled “Meathooked”—aired in conjunction with another documentary segment called “The End of Water” that focused on the disappearance of the world’s water supply. During her debriefing, Yeung said she still ate meat but admitted, “As we diminish our resources, people like me will have less and less choice.”