True North

I came across a site this morning by an organization called the "Voluntary Human Extinction Movement", or "VHEMT" (Pronounced "Vehement", according to the site. I'm still trying to figure out what the "T" stands for, and why there isn't an "N"...but I digress...)

These folks have started a new movement to eradicate the earth of human beings through depopulation control measures, mainly including the cessation of what they call "breeding". Their motto is, "May we live long and die out."

So why would they encourage such a thing? Why, to stop man-made global warming, of course. To be fair, they also envision an earth where "Earth's biosphere will be allowed to return to its former glory, and all remaining creatures will be free to live, die, evolve[...]".

So the next natural question to ask is, are these people planning a Jones-style kool-aid drinking party? Sadly, these people are smart enough to understand that a well-thought-out plan to get people to kill themselves in the name of planet earth wouldn't go over so well:

It's hard enough just to get people to consider not breeding. Advocating suicide, by any method besides old age, would be a particularly hard sell. There's no way we could convince enough people to kill themselves to make a difference, especially after we're too dead to talk. Suicide doesn't set an example others will follow.

So it isn't that they would be opposed to mass-suicide, they just know it wouldn't work. That, and they'd actually have to practice what they preach. Besides, after all of the Greenies killed themselves, the world would be rid of their self-righteous preaching, which would mean that the rest of us who actually value human life would go on our merry way, making babies and (apparently) killing the earth. (Tell me why this would be a bad thing again?)

Rather than endorsing suicide, the plan of VHEMT is to stop human procreation, since precious little babies will someday become evil polluters of the precious and holy earth. So what do they think about involuntary sterilization?

Although VHEMT doesn't advocate curtailing reproductive choices, irresponsible breeding is curtailing rights of all of us: our right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, to find solitude and quiet, and so on. We are also abridging the rights of other species by converting their habitat to ours. Driving a species to extinction is the ultimate act of ecofascism.

When breeding is an unquestioned right, we are also guaranteeing the right to breed slave labor, and to sentence someone to life in a rapidly deteriorating environment. A solid case could be made that procreation today is de facto child abuse.

About as clear as mud, no?

VHEMT takes some very scary positions in a Hillary-like fashion by stating that the don't "advocate" mass suicide or involuntary sterilization, but they argue for both in the same breath.

After digging around their site for awhile, I found a question in their "Q & A" that asked "If there were a magic button for human extinction, would you push it?". When I clicked on the question, I was redirected to this page:

When I clicked "Yes, I'd push the button", I received this response:

Good job!

Now, there are two settings on this imaginary button:

FAST: All people fall over and rot.

SLOW: Universal human infertility.

FAST

The carnage would be easily integrated into the food chain by scavengers and maggots, but our clever machinery could cause gigantic problems for Earth.

Major appliances like stoves and cars could be absorbed, but nuclear reactors would begin to melt down or explode and, tragically, no humans would be around to appreciate the fireworks. Without someone there to hear them, they might not make a sound. For miles around every reactor, a radioactive zone would exist for a very long time, as the timeline below depicts.

Abandoned oil wells, landfills, and coal mines would eventually stop burning. Dams would fail and cause much local destruction of ecosystems. Impact would vary depending on which dam in a series broke first.Unless plant and animal life downstream increases and expands before the dams break, more species could be flushed away.

Toxic waste would migrate into the water cycle, and would eventually be dispersed throughout the planet, re-collecting in pockets. Mutations and adaptations by lower life forms would allow life to continue in spite of the poisons. However, most animals higher on the food chain would be unable to adapt fast enough.

In short, biodiversity would be set back several hundred million years. On the bright side, Earth's biosphere would soon begin to get better, reversing the direction of the past 15,000 years of human activity.

When I clicked, "No, I wouldn't push it", this is the response I received:

In other words, if the the members of VEHMT could, they would control population through involuntary sterilization, would endorse mass-suicide (if only it would work), and if a button existed that would eliminate mankind, would kill every person on planet earth.

And we're afraid of Islamic terrorists?

Granted, the argument is that there aren't that enough of these VEHMT freaks to cause any harm. However, I've been seeing more and more buzz about Greenies endorsing sterilization, and embracing the idea that humans are of no real value based upon the idea that they are polluting the precious planet.

This is "Jim Jones" stuff, folks.

If you're feeling particularly inquisitive, go visit their site. Just make sure you bring lots of self-esteem along with you.

• VHEMT.org