With the human population doubling up in just a few decades, the millennial generation is opting stop human procreation.
Anti-natalism is a philosophy that dates back to ancient Greece. The main idea behind this philosophy is that human beings are cruel and selfish, and people should not have babies that shall eventually lead to the extinction of human species.
The movement surfaced on Facebook and Reddit recently due to the deteriorating conditions of the planet. Anti-natalists provide reasonable justifications for following this movement by stating that if the population keeps increasing at the same pace, all the species will eventually go extinct. It is better for one species to face extinction rather than having all species to suffer due to the selfish nature of human beings.
Anti-natalism believes that life is full of suffering and children are born against their will. This means that they have no say in the matter. This voluntary human extinction movement claims that giving birth to children is immoral. Most of the ideas of this movement have been picked up from ancient Jain and Buddhist texts.
People have been actively following this movement for a number of reasons. Firstly, some claim to be extremely fearful of the effects of global warming and climate change. They believe that by producing more children, they will be adding to the burden of the issue. Their love for children is what gave birth to this movement and this love is often mistaken for hate. Anti-natalists simply do not any suffering for children.
Secondly, anti-natalists do not want their children to suffer from mental health disorders as they run in the family and will eventually affect their children as well. These illnesses are genetic and may lead to the suffering of children born into the family.
Moreover, the older generation is highly concerned about this movement as it goes against their principles. Also, adoption rates have gone higher because people are now sceptical of producing children as they do not want to add to the burden of the Earth.
Feature image credits- Huckmag
Suhani Malhotra