For the sake of the environment the voluntary human extinction movement wants to eliminate the human race from the planet
Hey, Amanda, Hales. Welcome to another edition of chatting with today. I'm here with David
Hey
Yeah, you too
Human extinction movement, what are some other terms for it?
well, it kind of falls under a bigger umbrella of
Antinatalism, which is like a philosophical argument that
applies a negative value to birth for one reason or another humans caused so much harm to
either other humans or nonhumans that
It's wrong to create more of them. Yeah, it's pretty much like the most extreme form of being an environmentalist
Pretty much. Yeah, a lot of environmentalists wouldn't agree with it either. How did you get into it?
Well, I've always had an interest in environmental issues
And
For the past eight years or so I've worked in conservation biology
Like with like land management agencies doing habitat restoration work
And when you are confronted with the issues that humans have with the environment on a daily basis
It's pretty overwhelming and I don't think anyone doing that type of work is an optimist
yeah, so
Over the years I would kind of wonder if the planet meaning the species on the planet would be better off without us
and
I didn't think they would be the first because there'd be no one here to do the work of
Like restoring the habitats that we've already harmed so no kids for you
Yet and I don't plan to okay
So when I first came to the idea
I thought I was like the only one I hadn't heard about it before I hadn't heard about it until you emailed me
Yeah, yeah
And but then I decided to google it and lo and behold there was a already a website called voluntary human extinction movement
Hmm. I mean I try to
you know use reusable shopping bags and things like that and take shorter showers, but
I think all those changes are good for people to
To try to make but really in the end they're a drop in the bucket
Compared to the effect that having one child
will have there was a
2009 study by Oregon State that tried to estimate the carbon footprint of reproduction
and
they concluded that having one child was the equivalent of
Nine thousand four hundred and forty one metric tons
which
They which is a roughly
2500 round-trip flights between LA and our sorry, New York and London. So do you kind of believe we're just a parasite?
on this rock and space
like we just we weren't supposed to happen or
no, I think we're you know a natural product of evolution, but
because I work with the invasive species like I was saying I kind of view humans through that lens that
We're not native to most of the planet except for Africa
In an evolutionary sense
So we've had negative impacts everywhere. We've
Migrated to just like invasive species. Do you go you got so much stats here
yeah, I can memorize them also as
people have
Migrated to these different parts of the world in with the black arrow. They're pointing to when we arrived
almost different places and then the
large mammal populations
Afterwards, what are you doing now to
Combat the invasive species problem. Well, I'm just in my work I the small like lands that I manage
You're just trying to
Control the spread of the the weeds the plants. What do you think the meaning of life?
Good question I
Don't know that there is a meaning but I find meaning and purpose in trying to
undo the the wrongs that humans have caused and
Hmm help the well-being of non-human
species are you vegetarian or uh
What kind of diet you have?
I eat meat right now. I've tried to not eat meat. Um
And it's I think the those personal changes that like like that that are you know
It's an everyday choice. You have to make to not eat meat and it's
It's definitely difficult in the beginning. I think once you get used to it, it's probably pretty the second nature
But as someone who cares about the environment and who has a hard time
Transitioning his diet. Mm-hmm. You know, it just makes it seem more hopeless that
People who are even more apathetic would be able to make personal sacrifices
Yeah
And not having a kid. It's just a one-time
You know event or one-time decision. So the only thing you're doing is just not having kids
Basically hmm. I mean, I'm sure I
Haven't really heard this
Counter-argument much, but I'm sure in the youtube world. They'll be people commenting. Why don't you just kill yourself because oh
Right, that would save resources, right?
That's cruel
but I don't I think there's a difference between the interests of a being that already is in a being that could be
Hmm, you know a being that doesn't exist you it doesn't really have a any interest in
You know pain or suffering or
Whereas uh, you know, I don't want to die. I don't want
To cause myself that pain suffering or my family who had you know suffer from right, right
Hmm, but I do agree. It would be better for this
After we die you think like you do pretty much an atheist. Yeah. No
I think like
At the heart of a lot of this issue of these issues is uh
anthropocentrism
We heard that term. Mm-hmm
It's kinda just uh means humans human-centric like a that favors human interests over
other species
Whereas I would call myself a bio centrist
meaning all species are
equal they have they all have inherent Worth and
their interests all matter I
Think a lot of people would say that
human interests are more important because
we do have the ability to reason and
and suffer more
We have different capacities
than other species
but then the counter-argument to that is that
there's capacities that we don't have we can't regenerate lost limbs or
convert sunlight into energy or
Fly or breathe underwater in the different capacities, I think just
Allow us to to thrive in our respective
environmental conditions
They're not inherently better or worse
Wouldn't it make more sense to just live a more sustainable?
Isn't there a happy medium where there's we could just live more sustainably
I think that's what a big portion of the environmental movement
Wants and strive for is sustainability. I
kind of I personally think that's a pipe dream and that there isn't really
Any such thing?
Like for instance getting clean energy would be great. It would be better than using fossil fuels but it's not
Good, it's less bad
mm because we still have to there's issues with all the
Clean energies and they still require
land and it's just just another way to allow us to continue to
Live how we're living and grow
You're still gonna need food
And we're still going to be traveling the world which is gonna spread more
species
Do you think?
Our evolution as humans was a mistake like we weren't supposed to be here at all. No
I mean, there's I don't think there's a supposed to you're not supposed to and when it comes to evolution
I just
maybe consciousness was a
Not necessarily a fluke, but a maybe it's not necessarily a great thing. Hmm
Think I mean certainly if you think of the value of a
Trait evolutionarily it's for to ensure your survival
but
consciousness and reason has
allowed us to
Destroy our own habitat and threaten our own existence. So
Maybe it's not a very good
Trait for survival. What's a good book you would recommend on more information?
David Bennett are who I mentioned before yeah
He has an essay that's in a book called permissible progeny, which is all about
Antinatalism and has some good essays on it, but there's really not a whole lot of
Information directly related to antinatalism
Respect for nature by Paul Taylor. It's pretty good
in outlining
Biocentric ethics. How long have you been? I
guess did you have you selves identified as a
anti-nato list
About three years, okay
And
There's like I said, there's not really an organization to it
But the guy who created the website was sort of the one who gave it a name
last night
Well, yeah, I saw that on the Wikipedia page. I was like that can't be his real name. It was like less unite
Come on, I know
You can see a clip of him on Tucker Carlson's show if you want to eliminate the human race. How unhappy was your childhood. I?
Know a lot of people think that no. No, it's an obvious conclusion. Why would you want to do that?
Why would you want to be?
Want people to become extinct any last words?
Don't have kids
Yeah wear condoms
Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks for watching. Let's know what you think in the comments about this and
Check out David's information is the YouTube channel in the description and I will see you next week