For today's "profoundly deep" ecologist, it is not enough to merely be proudly child-free, and show concern for animals and the planet. And your "DinkLink" membership? Sorry, online dating sites - even those which advertise your laudable commitment to population control - don't rank terribly high on the scale of political virtue. The SF Chron reports that The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement wants you to do more, by spreading their gospel: that the humanoids now overpopulating the earth by a factor of about six should simply "Live Long And Die Out."

"We can't be breeding right now," says (founder) Les Knight. "It's obvious that the intentional creation of another [human being] by anyone anywhere can't be justified today."

The organization is realistic, however. From the VHEMT Web site:

It's possible that VHEMT will not succeed in staving off ecological collapse. So, couples contemplating procreation may want to consider the possibility that they will be sentencing their off-spring to a rapidly-deteriorating quality of life and unimaginably horrible death.

I think if they're serious, they've got a big campaign ahead of them just about everywhere except the United States and Europe. Morever, the new breeder's hotbed of Manhattan needs to get its act together.

TECHNORATI TAGS: VOLUNTARY HUMAN EXTINCTION, BIRTH RATES, CHILD-FREE, CHILDLESS

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 5, 2005 11:00 AM