Doomsayers and apocalyptic thinkers have always been with us. But extinctionists – those who want to see the human race end in order to save the planet? That is a new one for me.
But such people do exist. And they even manage to get ink in The New York Times:
[Les] Knight, 75, is the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction movement, which is less a movement than a loose consortium of people who believe that the best thing humans can do to help the Earth is to stop having children.
Mr. Knight added the word “voluntary” decades ago to make it clear that adherents do not support mass murder or forced birth control, nor do they encourage suicide. Their ethos is echoed in their motto, “May we live long and die out,” and in another one of their slogans, which Mr. Knight hangs at various conventions and street fairs: “Thank you for not breeding.”
That’s…good? Because what the world doesn’t need is yet another death cult.
But let’s leave Mr. Knight to his personal choices – if he and those like him wish to go silently into that good night, so be it. On the other side of the coin are those who say the world’s ultimate resource – and the only thing capable of “saving” it – is humanity itself. And one of the greatest proponents of that theory was the late Julian Simon:
…contra-Malthusianism worldview that a greater number of people is the solution, not the problem, in free-market settings.
“The world’s problem is not too many people, but a lack of political and economic freedom.”
– Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton, N.Y.: Princeton University Press, 1996), p. 11.
“Discoveries, like resources, may well be infinite: the more we discover, the more we are able to discover.”
– Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2, p. 82.
“There is only one important resource which has shown a trend of increasing scarcity rather than increasing abundance. That resource is the most important of all—human beings. . . . [An] increase in the price of peoples’ services is a clear indication that people are becoming more scarce even though there are more of us.”
– Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2, 581.
There’s also the “Deep Optimism Manifesto.” It’s bottom line:
Capitalism works. Capitalism does more to help the world than the UN, World Economic Forum, Club of Rome, NASA, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and a long list of clueless celebrities put together. Capitalism helps humans escape poverty and improve the environment.
Sounds like a much better, more dynamic, more ethical plan than voluntary extinction.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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One thing these uninformed dooms day cultists omit is that the earth and it’s current environmental condition is quite TEMPORARY!. One day, in the not too distant “galactic future”, the sun will run out of Hydrogen to “burn” and will attempt fusion of the next heavier element Helium. The sun will lose mass and the sun’s corona will EXPAND! That expansion will incinerate all of the nearby rocky planets including the Earth. If we wish to survive as a species, we had better make use of the precious natural materials at hand to develop efficient travel in time & space. (Alternatively we could attempt to refuel the core of the sun without blowing it up. Theoretically possible, but we we have a long way to go). These feel good “Eco-freaks” are not going to “save the planet” or preserve anything!.
The Globalist lie regarding so called “Carbon Emissions” and now “Nitrogen Emissions” changing the “climate” is also pure JUNK SCIENCE as well, with the real intention of pursuing the Orwellian -Totalitarian specter of “command & control” !
You will note that the underlying theme of all of these false narratives is to instill FALSE GUILT among the “masses”. Because, “guilty masses” are more malleable and easily controlled than an Informed Populace that knows better.
PUSH BACK!
I don’t worry. God takes care of everything. Judging what is happening now He will be sending His Son Jesus Christ to clean things up. Try telling a lie to Jesus.
Much better than conceiving and then murdering
If Biden gets his way and becomes a “Great Wartime leader” he just might do what’s suggested about ending mankind. He’ll get us in WW3. The war to end all wars, the earth and mankind all at once.
The two best things you can do for ANYBODY with a screw loose……..
And that pretty much sums up what’s wrong with our country today.
But of course, it is generally the well informed, responsible, more civilized individuals that would end their variety of humanity, and so the potential is only for a more degenerate outcome. Or perhaps a long term circular process that discards what knowledge has been accumulated, only to have to relearn it over eons.
“The time machine”
I agree there are too many people, and fewer would be better for everyone. Including the critters. Unique species are being squeezed out the specialized habitats remaining, and a large number of them will be going extinct—rhinos, tigers, orangutans, gorillas, snow leopards, and many others both big and small. I value animals and wildlife more than I do many humans. I do think we need to look more to the quality of people than we do the quantity. Too many children are raised feral with no other future than a life of crime.
And your solution? Let’s exterminate them as a reaction?? HOW do do you “look more to the quality of people than we do the quantity.”? By the same way the NAZIs tried to do 90 years ago? You want to repeat that? How many good people have we lost in that war?
It is certainly a noble thought, something the muslim neighbors would admire. While we limit our birth rates, the muslim will go on making more and more babies.
Would the extinctionists please lead by example!
Voluntary extinction? Yeah, sure thing “Les”. Just because you aren’t up for sex anymore doesn’t redound to generations of 20-somethings following along.
i do agree that humans are killing our planet but do not think killing off humans is the answer.