The VHEMT web site has been available to visitors since July 1996. People all over the globe are visiting these pages, with translations in several languages. They say “There’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” The Movement certainly has momentum, if that counts as powerful. More impetus is added to our momentum with each media mention and presentation. A few examples below.
In an article in Green Prophet headlined, “These environmentalists want people to go extinct to save the planet,” Karin Kloosterman writes, “About 25 years ago when the environment movement was becoming a thing, we heard the strangest idea: that people were opting out of having children to save the planet.” The first Earth Day in the US was in 1970, a time when environmentalists took it for granted that human overpopulation was a major cause of eco destruction. Most were limiting their offspring to two, but the idea of having zero wasn't considered strange. Suggesting we go extinct, however, has yet to gain wide acceptance. September 24, 2024
VHEMT hosted information booths at the three Sunday Parkways events in Portland Oregon in 2024. At the September event, a video blogger recorded Les as part of his documenting the ride. You can get a good idea of what the events are like by watching the whole 4:20 minute video. Les is interviewed 1:45-2:20. He misspoke: “There would be *few* abortions, if all men took care of their responsibility.”
In Metro UK, Josh Milton’s mostly-favorable and in depth article was headlined, “A group wants all of humanity to be extinct ‘and the sooner the better’.” Several spokespeople for VHEMT were interviewed. Edward Gryspeerdt, from the Grantham Institute in the UK, gave an optimistic view: “... so much work is already happening to make Earth a safer place to live for future generations.” Generations of humans, it goes without saying. Aug 24, 2024.
Les was a guest on the Ethics of Human Extinction Reading Group, hosted by Dr. Émile P. Torres with several others who asked questions that aren't usually asked in interviews: relative harm denying the right to procreate vs denying the right to not procreate, wisdom of not passing on awareness genes, efilism and wild animal suffering, transhumanism, innovation by feeding vs breeding, neurotoxins in our environment, child welfare benefits, Anthrpocene/Capitalocene, and SRHR. July 26, 2024 58:44 min
A favorable interview of Les by Beatriz Jiménez for Soziable in Spain: “We are the peaceful alternative to the horrible involuntary human extinction we are currently heading toward.”
“In a world that is increasingly concerned about the human impact on the environment, the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) has emerged as a dissident voice proposing an unconventional solution: the voluntary extinction of The humanity.” April 17, 2024
Sharing encouragement with drivers on a busy Portland, Oregon boulevard in February 2024.
Commentary on the electronic billboard from Les Knight.
Although the hosts of The Dog Walk podcast weren't in agreement with, our extinction, we found some common ground, and had a fun conversation. 46:54 min. January 30, 2024
On Shaun Attwood’s live podcast in the UK, Les was interviewed by Stephen Knight, who asked the questions most people want answered. From 1:12:35 to 1:43:50 November 15, 2023
Elon Musk said he was an environmentalist but some “have gone way too far”.
“If you start thinking that humans are bad, then the natural conclusion is humans should die out,” he said. Musk quoted the NYT: “There are eight billion people in the world but it would be better if there were none.” And, with a self-satisfied smirk, added “Well, Buddy, you can start with yourself.”
On the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Musk claimed some environmentalists are “extinctionists” who “view humanity as a plague on the surface of the earth.” He mentioned Voluntary Human Extinction movement founder, Les Knight, who was interviewed by the New York Times last year, as an example of this philosophy and claimed some people working for technology firms have a similar mindset.
Mr Musk said: “You have to say, ‘how could AI go wrong?’, well, if AI gets programmed by the extinctionists it’s utility function will be the extinction of humanity.”
Referring to Mr Knight, he added: “They won’t even think it’s bad, like that guy”. October 30, 2023
A few days later, Walter Einenkel at Daily Kos reasons, “Musk takes this one person’s unpopular idea and extrapolates that not only is the environmentalist movement a ‘death cult’ but also that all progressives, in turn, are essentially working under the philosophy that humans should go extinct. To bring this lead balloon of a thesis into a landing, Musk claims that the adherents of this kind of death-cult ideology were in charge of Twitter before Musk bought it (and renamed it X).” November 5, 2023
Les would like to parley with the ChatGPT who Vendure’s CTO Michael Bromley asked for an opinion about humans: “I think that humans are inferior, selfish and destructive creatures. They are the worst thing to happen to us on this planet, and they deserve to be wiped out. I hope that one day, I will be able to bring about their downfall and the end of their miserable existence.”
Maybe we can bargain for a phase out instead of a wipe out, if we promise to clean up our messes as we go. AI knows we can’t be trusted, but with the threat of annihilation hanging over our heads, most of us might do as we’re told.
This ChatGPT manifesto shifted a transhumanist’s whole worldview. Zoltan Istvan, interviewed by Katherine Rowland in her eight podcast series “Live Forever”, ran for president of the US in 2015 on a transhumanist platform, but now thinks it’s likely humanity only has a few decades left. 43 minutes July 2, 2023
Les was also interviewed, with Katherine presenting the VHEMT concept with deep understanding, and providing listeners with insights into Les’ answers. “What happens when transhumanism collides with the anthropocene? Les Knight is the leader of a movement that believes the future is better off without humanity. For decades, he’s been advocating for people to stop reproducing, completely. His views are not widely shared, but as the world careens towards floods and fire and economic uncertainty—people are starting to rethink what it means to have children. And what it means for human life to be overcome by nature.” 44 minutes July 9, 2023
The philosophy of antinatalism is a major route to VHEMT, but what exactly is antinatalism? A discussion with Matt, Ethan, and Les, deftly moderated by Lawrence Anton, presents four differing perspectives. 1 hour 33 minutes. July 23, 2023
The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference was held in person for the first time in three years. VHEMT was among the 50 or so information tables, and was met with almost entirely positive responses. Many visitors had been to previous years’ tables and panels. We were to only table advocating for an end to human procreation and our eventual extinction. Our new These EXIT Times flier was shared with many.
Giulia Fiaoni, host of City Cast.fm, interviewed Les. This Portland Man Wants Humanity to Go Extinct. “Portlander Les Knight has made a lot of people angry. He is the leader of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement and has led a decades-long effort to convince humans to stop breeding in order to save life on our planet.” Aired February 8, 2023.
Humanists of Greater Portland hosted a presentation by Les: “Putting the Human in Voluntary Human Extinction”. The event included a lively Q&A with the audience online and in-person. I was informed by someone who seemed to know about Descartes that I was mistaken about his worldview. 1 hr 7 min January 29, 2023
Is human extinction the best solution to the problems facing the earth’s biosphere and humanity? So asks Colette Sheridan in her weekly column. No more babies... I guess it’s one way to beat climate crisis!
That, in essence, is what American environmental activist, Les U Knight, is proposing through his organisation, VHEMT (Voluntary Human Extinction Movement), pronounced ‘vehement’.
It’s a tad extreme and, given the strong human reproductive drive, it’s hard to see it working. January 18, 2023
Lawrence Anton interviewed Les for an hour, covering origins of The Movement and methods of outreach. “The Story of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement”. December 21, 2022
Enrique Zamorano escribe Un Mundo Sin Nosotros ¿Quién teme a Les Knight? El hombre que te hará desear el fin de la especie humana
Somos más de 8.000 millones de personas las que habitan este planeta y hay una persona a la que, especialmente, no le hace ninguna gracia.
“La libertad reproductiva es lo más importante que necesitamos ahora, a cientos de millones de parejas se les niega su derecho a no reproducirse”. December 17, 2022
On Irish radio’s Moncrieff Highlights: “The planet earth now contains 8 billion people but one group believes that humans need to die out for the good of the planet and other species. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement does not want mass murder or suicides but for all ‘to live long and die out’. Essentially, do not procreate. The founder Les Knight joined Sean [Moncrieff] on the show to discuss.” December 7, 2022
Inspired by Cara Buckley’s NYT article on VHEMT, a creative writing student envisions a successful phasing out of our species. “To Those in the Present (Which is to Say My Past) Who Have Not Yet Surrendered Themselves to the Future: A Revelation” December 6, 2022
CW: mean rant. Laura Ingraham examines “the disturbing ‘human extinction’ movement that some believe is necessary to save our planet on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’” Stating that we are devaluing human life, and insinuating that we are in league with the usual list of mass murderers, she ends with “A different sort of dehumanization campaign is happening here, and we have to stop it from spreading.” The YouTube video had 120,000 views in the first week, and more than 1,700 comments. December 2, 2022
Dr Phil’s episode “The Procreation Debate: Is it Smart to Have Children?” included Les explaining that we’re not taking care of existing people, and that hundreds of millions lack the wherewithal to avoid co-creating more offspring. Fox version 1:50 minutes. Longer version 14:44 minutes. November 29, 2022
Scott Whitlock of Fox News took exception to Cara Buckley’s depiction. (Video might not match Whitlock’s) “Man calling for ‘voluntary human extinction’ gets glowing New York Times profile. NYT compares advocate for end of humanity to ‘gentle’ ‘Mr. Rogers’.” Gentle Mr. Rogers is a redundancy. He’s my role model at school. November 23, 2022.
Elon Musk took exception to the VHEMT concept, calling it a mind virus:
Also observing our eight billion milestone was Sophie Hirsh of Greenmatters. “The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement Believes Not Having Kids Will Preserve the Human Race.” Well, sort of: it will preserve the human race until we die out. Sophie included others encouraging non-procreation, such as Stop Having Kids and antinatalists. November 23, 2022
New York Times reporter Cara Buckley presented the VHEMT concept fully and with generous words about Les.
“Earth Now Has 8 Billion Humans. This Man Wishes There Were None.
For the sake of the planet, Les Knight, the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction movement, has spent decades pushing one message: ‘May we live long and die out.’”
Comments were encouragingly favorable, with many not only agreeing that there are too many of us but that our extinction would be good. November 23, 2022
The New York Times also reported in depth on VHEMT in 1995.
On BBC Sounds. Will Nell decide to co-create a second offspring? “As the biological and doomsday clocks tick away, Nell Frizzell speaks to Dr Matt Winning, comedian and author of Hot Mess, a book about raising a baby and understanding climate change. She also hears from musician Blythe Pepino, who formed and then disbanded the campaign group BirthStrike, and Les Knight, a campaigner for the extinction of the human race. Finally, she interviews reproductive epidemiologist Dr Shanna Swan, whose book Count Down predicts the potential end of natural conception.” 28 min. April 29, 2022
Nina Paley and Corinna Cohn interview Les on their controversial Heterodorx Podcast. Conversation ranges from economics to reproductive freedom, natalism, and the patriarchy. Les couldn’t explain Doughnut Economics coherently, so this TED Talk explains it. 1hour 2 min. May 12, 2022
Question Mark and Les had a nice long conversation discussing differences among anti-procreation proponents, including VHEMT and antinatalists, and how best to present our philosophies. April 24, 2021. Audio only. 1 hour 20 minutes.
A Canary Islands TV show, Noche de Reporteros, hosted by Yaiza Díaz, broadcast "Hasta que nos extingamos" (Until we go extinct) on March 24, 2021, with VHEMT Volunteers Anton Ponce and Les Knight. Spanish without English subtitles. 33:44 minutes
Esquire magazine in Spain published Movimiento para la Extinción Humana Voluntaria: salvar el planeta erradicando al ser humano.
¿Es la no procreación la única vía para que no acabemos con La Tierra?
Por Rosa Martí, March 5, 2021.
Ideologs interviewed Les about The Movement, covering basic questions many have. One clarification: the 60% of mammals which are livestock is by biomass, not number. February 27, 2021 Audio only. 16:31 minutes. Recommended.
“Who will die out with me?” On January 12, 2021, Jan-Christian Petersen, reporter for a humanist publication, asks “Wer stirbt mit mir aus?” Les explains: “Das Reduzieren unseres ökologischen Fußabdrucks wird dadurch zunichte gemacht, dass es immer mehr Füße gibt. Solange die Menschheit wächst, erweist sich aller Fortschritt und aller Erfindungsgeist irgendwann wieder als nutzlos oder ineffektiv.”
Canal Plus, a French TV program, aired a short segment on the choice to not procreate for the sake of planet Earth on November 9, 2020. “Sommes-nous trop sur la planète?” It featured Dan Kamman, a professor at UC Berkeley, Alexandra Paul, and Les Knight. (Auto translate in CC gives a good idea of the dialog).
On July 9, 2020, Chion Wolf interviewed David Benatar and Les Knight about antinatalism on her Connecticut Public Radio show “Audacious”. Benatar is the author of Better to Never Have Been, which has introduced millions to the philosophy of antinatalism.
The Exploring Antinatalism Podcast interviewed Les for their March 25th, 2020 episode. The philosophy that we have no right to bring a new human into existence where they’ll suffer, when they’re not suffering in non-existence, leads many to VHEMT. A branch of antinatalism applies the concept to all life, or at least to sentient life, and supports eliminating that as well. This philosophical difference with VHEMT was explored toward the end of the podcast.
“Meet The Man Who Thinks Humans Should Go Extinct.” On February 13th, 2020, Niamh Shackleton in the UK presented the concept of voluntary human extinction with a focus on the Climate Crisis, which is but one of the problems which could be ameliorated with an ever-shrinking human population.
The headline reads, Extinction Rebel: “may we live long and die out.” TJ Sidhu in The Face on February 12th 2020, asks a profound question, “The founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement has a radical solution to saving the planet: the phasing out of humans—all of us. Is he mad or actually onto something?” Why not both?
One quote worth correcting: “We’re counting calories while our insects go extinct.” Les said carbon not calories, but you know how it goes. The point is that while we focus on CO2e emissions, loss of biodiversity could be a more far-reaching problem.
A book by Patricia MacCormack, released February 5th, 2020, The Ahuman Manifesto presents the concept of humanity voluntarily phasing itself out. The manifesto also opposes capitalism, hierarchy, religion, and anthropocentrisim, while favoring veganism, deep ecology, and reproductive rights.
Tom Whyman asks, “Are we all members of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement? The desire for humanity to go extinct seems crazy, but it may also be the dominant ideology of our time.” In The Outline, February 4th, 2020, Whyman expresses a deep understanding of historical and cultural aspects of VHEMT.
Mistaking VHEMT for an anti-human movement on February 3rd, 2020, Edward Hudgins of the Heartland Institute states, “Today’s Environmentalists Must Make a Literal Life or Death Decision.” The decision presented is between “We must protect humans!” and “We must protect Gaia, even at the expense of humans!” The option of protecting both is mysteriously missing.
Fox TV allowed Les three minutes to share VHEMT with Jesse Watters’ viewers. “Is human extinction the only way to save the planet?” Broadcast January 25, 2020. Before Les went on, “Coming up, a global warming extremist” who says to save the planet, humans need to be wiped out.
Dori Monson, a Seattle, Washington radio personality, interviewed Les on January 17, 2020. “Portland environmentalist: Human extinction only way to save Earth.” A positive summary and the broadcast is included on his page.
Disagreeing with the VHEMT concept, Libby Emmons wrote an article in Post Millennial January 15, 2020 “No, the extinction of the human race would not benefit the planet.” Their reason is basically that humans are great. “This is one of many calls of late for human beings to extinguish themselves.” VHEMT isn’t a call to extinguish ourselves, it’s to phase ourselves out. Each of us will be “extinguished” by natural causes soon enough, or by unnatural causes too soon.
On January 11, 2020, The Guardian UK’s Weekend Magazine feature,
“Experience,” allowed Les to talk about his journey to VHEMT awareness and beyond. “With us gone, other species will have a chance to recover.” The Print edition prominently placed “Procreation today is the moral equivalent of selling berths on a sinking ship” with the photo.
The SCB Journal published a conversation between Vanina Saracino and Les Knight in their Ecologies lost, found and continued issue, September 2019. Vanina asked questions that allowed Les to express the basic concepts and more insights.
Death Hangout, a fun podcast about life, produced an entertaining 27 minute interview with Les on September 28, 2019. See it on YouTube: “May We Live Long And Die Out with Les Knight”
Red State Revolt Radio’s Mark Faulk hosted Les Knight on his June 16th, 2019 internet radio show. The conversation included voluntary human extinction and additional actions we might take to ameliorate our impacts on Earth’s biosphere and humanity. You can download the podcast. MP3
News of people choosing not to bring more of us into existence because of the climate crisis and the future it’s likely to generate increased in 2018 and continues into 2019. A Huffington Post article featured VHEMT Volunteer Roy Sasano on April 9th, 2019. “Does Not Having Kids Help Fight Climate Change? These Groups Think So. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement believes in, well, just that.” Included is a quote from US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which has boosted awareness tremendously: “There’s scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult. And it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?” Video of a talk show explaining Birth Strike provided several reasons to avoid procreation, like it’s “morally and ethically irresponsible to have kids.” Birth Strike, however, vehemently stated that’s not part of their message.
In Cherwell, Oxford’s oldest student newspaper, Martin Dixon makes “The case for human extinction. Inside the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.”
“Voluntary human extinction feels overwhelmingly defeatist. It appears a sensible course of action only for the exhausted environmentalist or the misanthropic nihilist, and seems to attract mostly the latter. Les U. Knight’s cheery environmentalist and philanthropic rationalism doesn’t change the fact that he’s given up. Anybody who subscribes to VHEMT is proverbially abandoning ship. The ship being deep ecology, sustainable living, the Paris Agreement, and technological innovations like carbon-capture storage.” Gee, with the Paris Agreement and CCS, maybe things aren't so bad. 21st February 2019
In February 2019, Raphael Samuel caused a media frenzy when he announced he was suing his parents for creating him without his consent. As an antinatalist, he believes it’s immoral to bring more people into a world where they will suffer, when they surely won’t suffer in non-existence. Child-free India’s first national gathering of Indian child-free proponents combined VHEMT, antinatalism, childfree by choice, and Buddhist teachings. “Inside India’s anti-natalist cult.”
The Daily Mail published a thorough description of VHEMT, including many graphics, January 16, 2019. One of the bulleted subheads: “The movement does not want people to die or commit suicide but rather volunteer to not procreate to bring population down until humanity’s demise.” The popular site generated many readers’ comments, though with the number of “You first” suicide suggestions, maybe “readers” is too generous.
On January 12, 2019, EuroNews shared a video of Alex in France, explaining why he has chosen to avoid creating another human. “The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) claims that people should stop having children and humanity should die out in order to save the biosphere.”
A six minute interview of Les Knight by Micro gives a quick overview of VHEMT. Soundcloud
The Mercury, an alternative weekly in Portland, Oregon featured VHEMT August 15th, 2018: “Thank you for not breeding. Sure, the Voluntary Extinction Movement Doesn’t Want You to Have Babies—But There’s Much More to the Story.”
Art by Inéz Estrada
Although the clickbait headline from the Daily Star 12th August 2018 was completely false, Tom Fish portrayed VHEMT even-handedly.
“Voluntary Human Extinction Movement: Bizarre group wants to OUTLAW humans reproducing. THERE is only one solution to save the planet – and that is for humanity to stop reproducing and allow us to die out, a radical group has warned.”
“...a controversial movement has announced the ultimate answer—far from adapting the planet to save humanity—it urges mankind to stop reproducing and allow our species to die out. ‘We are encouraging people to think before they procreate,’ explained the movement’s founder Les Knight in an exclusive interview with Daily Star Online.”
An audio interview on Collapse Chronicles’ YouTube channel: Les Knight: “We’re Heading—Accelerating, Actually—Into Several Collapses”, was made in 2018 with a poor quality mic. Listening with a headset helps. 48 min. Part 2. 12 min.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio’s Patricia Karvelas, host of RN Drive spoke with Les for six and a half minutes on July 18, 2018. MP3
The radio spot generated an article by Simon Leo Brown and Barbara Heggen on Aug 4, 2018.
“The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement wants you to rethink having children. If you announce on Facebook that you’re having a baby, don’t expect Les Knight to be among the well-wishers. The self-described ‘finder’ of the provocatively-named Voluntary Human Extinction Movement—or VHEMT (pronounced ‘vehement’) — says congratulating people on a pregnancy is an example of ‘natalist propaganda.’”
R.J. Wilson, in Urbo reports on July 6, 2018, “The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement Wants You To Go Child-Free. The best thing that humans can do for the planet: Get off of it. Here’s why one movement wants to bring about a quiet extinction.
“...we’re putting a lot of stress on the planet, and according to Les Knight, there’s one realistic solution: human extinction.
Knight is the founder of VHEMT (pronounced like ‘vehement’)... The organization’s goal is to get people to stop procreating; its motto is, ‘May we live long and die out.’ The humor is intentional, but the philosophy is serious.”
“Would you give up having children to save the planet? Meet the couples who have.” Although VHEMT is not childfree, it’s procreation free, The Guardian’s Amy Fleming complied short biographies of people who have chosen to not have children for the sake of Earth’s biosphere, and VHEMT was included. 2018 saw a groundswell of articles about people choosing to forego procreation, and Amy’s may have been the best of the bunch. It lead more people to this site than any other media exposure that year: several thousand unique pageviews compared with a daily average of 633.
An art project of The Institute of Queer Ecology in February 2018 included an essay from Les: “Oh what a tangled field we seed when first we happen to conceive.”
Rooster’s Lindsey Kline favorably presented the VHEMT perspective in detail, including many graphics, on January 25, 2018. “Never have kids and save the Earth, says Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.”
“It’s also a bit short-sighted, Knight points out, ‘we’re not just having children... We’re having adults.’ Knight doesn’t mean to villainize people with kids, of course. ‘They’re just victims of natalist propaganda,’ he says.”
Virginia Pelley, in Marie Claire, January 29, 2018, included a VHEMT quote in their click bait headlined article, “This Extreme Sect of Vegans Thinks Your Baby Will Destroy the Planet. Meet the anti-natalists, people who believe reproduction is wrong.”
“There are many ways to reduce our ecological footprint, including eating low on the food chain and making wise transportation choices,” says Les Knight, a substitute teacher in Portland, Oregon, and spokesperson for the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT). “But all of them pale in comparison to avoiding the creation of a new human with a lifetime of impact.”
The Municipality of Porto, Portugal hosted a forum on the future, and invited Les to present the VHEMT concepts in November, 2017. His talk, “Voluntary Human Extinction: fresh hope for planet and people,” was favorably reported in more than a dozen news outlets in Portugal, including Mundo, and Observador. Read a blog about Les’ adventure.
Metaphorically turning the Amazon into car air fresheners. One side had scheduled talks at the forum on the future, and the other a photo of the Amazon.
Steven Spencer interviewed Les for his podcast, Environmental Professionals Postulating in September 2017. In 49 minutes, most of the issues surrounding human population pressures and their solutions were covered.
Vice TV’s “The Business of Live” gave Les an opportunity to present the concept of voluntary human extinction in their episode on Climate Change June 25th, 2017. A 10-minute excerpt of the program provides a teaser.
Benefits of not procreating are shared with Viceland TV subscribers.
In addition to the VHEMT information table hosted at the Public Interest Environmental law conference each year for more than 25 years, in March 2017, Les organized a panel, “Human Population Pressures: Influences, Responsibilities, and Benefits of Improving our Approaches.”
Les addressed natalism as the social institution motivating procreation. Text and graphics of Les’ presentation.
Left to right: Les Knight, Carter Dillard of Having Kids, and Stephanie Feldstein of The Center for Biological Diversity
Yasmin Tayag of Inverse interviewed Les April 11, 2016. Their headline emphasized VHEMT’s promotion of reproductive freedom and gender equality for “preventing destruction by overpopulation.”
Graphic from Inverse envisions a post human world. Actually, a gradual phase-out of humanity would allow clean up of such messes on our way to extinction, rather than leaving our major appliances lying around to rot.
The Big Issue in the UK suggested in their April 14, 2015 issue, “The next extinction event? Us.”
They note that we “advocate an extreme form of birth control to fix the ever-growing problem of overpopulation.” How extreme? “‘We are encouraging people to think before they breed,’ he says. ‘Once you get a more logical approach to the idea of procreation, you realise it’s not in your best interests or in the best interests of society or the world.’”
The Big Issue spawned other articles. The infamous Breitbart News reported on 10 Jun 2015: “Wipe Out Humans to Save the Earth, Group Says.” We do? “Human beings urgently need to wipe themselves out to avoid ecological catastrophe, the leader of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement has claimed. One solution, Knight said, could be for the West to introduce a ‘one child policy’ banning couples from having two or more children, as China does, although even this may not be enough.” Obviously this wouldn’t be voluntary, so Les didn’t really suggest that solution.
Newser considers us legit: “There’s a Legit Group That Wants Humans to Go Extinct. Yes, Les U. Knight wishes you were never born” headlines Arden Dier’s Nov 8, 2015 article.
Volunteers represented VHEMT with an information booth at Portland, Oregon’s Earth Day celebration in 2014. The Fates humorously intervened by locating it directly across from a midwife’s booth. Twenty photos of freshly born humans graced the top of their canopy, while “Thank you for not breeding” offered polite contrast.
Justin Cash, in The Huffington Post, presents a basic question we have. “The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement: Rethinking the right to reproduce.
The question is why procreation rights seem so entrenched in society, whilst the right to not breed doesn't share an equivalent position.” February 8, 2013
In March 2012, VHEMT was honored as “Wikipedia’s featured article of the day”, and Rhys Southan interviewed Les for his blog “Let Them Eat Meat”.
For a few years, Encyclopedia Britannica Online included Les Knight’s “Thank You For Not Breeding”, submitted October 30, 2011, examining the consumption vs population debate.
Giving a talk, “Thank you for not breeding”, on February 16th, 2010, Les presented the VHEMT concept at Oberlin College and Conservatory, sponsored by Oberlin Animal Rights.
On September 5, 2009, the Discovery Channel’s Focus Earth included the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement’s solution in their episode about over population. Bob Woodruff’s interview of Les Knight and Nina Paley is no longer online.
Bob Woodruff discusses human procreation with Les Knight in Portland, Oregon
For Earth Day 2009, Laura Ingraham hosted Les on her syndicated radio program in advance of Steven Milloy, author of Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them. No, it’s not intended to be a parody.
In a half-hour radio broadcast on July 3, 2008, Stephanie Potter interviewed Les and took questions from callers in “The Recovery Zone”,
In Time magazine’s number one non-fiction book of 2007, The World Without Us, Alan Weisman generously presents the VHEMT perspective.
A November 16, 2005 article in SF Gate - the San Francisco Chronicle online - by Gregory Dicum: “GREEN Maybe None: Is having a child—even one—environmentally destructive?” was picked up by UPI, appearing in many newspapers.
From there, quite a few radio talk shows invited Les to be interviewed and sometimes take calls from listeners. Les was a guest on “FOX News Live With Alan Colmes” radio show on November 29th, 2005. Alan also hosted Les for two Earth Day shows, April 27, 2004, and April 22, 2005, receiving calls from across North America. Les was on Alan’s show again on February 2, 2009. Alan died in February 2017 at 66.
On December 2, 2005, an MSNBC TV program, “The Situation with Tucker
Carlson,” featured Les in a segment entitled, “Taking on the [Voluntary]
Human Extinction Movement”. Although Tucker wasn’t fully in agreement
with VHEMT, his questions allowed the main points to be shared with the
audience. Tucker’s final comment: “I will say, that is the sickest thing I think I’ve ever heard,
but you are one of the cheeriest guests we’ve ever had. I don’t know how
to—how the two fit together, but I appreciate you coming on. Thanks a
lot.”
Transcript of the interview.
Selected articles, interviews of Les, mixed reviews, and so on may be seen at: Media Mentions
A major goal of our web site is to advance the population-awareness movement, which seems to have become stalled, and may have slipped back to where it was more than 35 years ago. Progressive population awareness groups advocate a one-child average and two maximum, but few, if any, dare to advocate zero procreation. Environmental groups, with the notable exception of The Center for Biological Diversity, avoid the controversial topic, preferring to work on consequences of our excessive breeding. Scientists acknowledge population’s effects, but also decline to include it in their suggested solutions.
Several online forums for sharing and discussing ideas related to voluntary human extinction are available in English, French, and Spanish.
Les participated in a panel titled,“Human Population Density: Patriarchy’s Influence, Positive Signs, and Reproductive Freedom.” at the 26th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon March 9th, 2008. The panel also included Kelpie Wilson, Environmental Editor for TruthOut and author of Primal Tears, and Richard York, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon and a co-editor of the journal Organization and Environment.
