Discussions about VHEMT

Welcome!

Hooray for Earth and humanity!
VHEMT Volunteers and Supporters breed no more.

A few billion more of us and we’ll save the planet once and for all.

You may have already been a Volunteer or Supporter before hearing of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Millions of people around the planet have independently arrived at the conclusion that Earth’s biosphere would be better off without humans. A little further down the thinking process and it becomes apparent that decreasing births rather than increasing deaths is the way to go, and voluntary methods are much more fun to advocate.

We Volunteers and Supporters make up our own minds about life and what to do with it. Our diversity makes The Movement strong. A wide range of religious, political, and social thought is represented among us.

Even our unofficial motto, “May we live long and die out,” has room for differing opinions: some prefer “May we live well and die out.” As explained below, Supporters don’t agree with the “die out” part of the motto.

However, the first word in VHEMT is Voluntary. Although some who support VHEMT may also advocate involuntary solutions to our population density problems, they are not advocating for VHEMT when they do so.

Loosely, we relate to VHEMT in one of three ways: Volunteer, Supporter, and Undecided.

VHEMT Volunteer: “All of us should voluntarily refrain from reproducing further, bringing about the eventual extinction of Homo sapiens.”

VHEMT Supporter: “Intentional creation of one more of us by any of us is unjustifiable at this time, but extinction of our species goes too far.”

Undecided: “Stop trying to put words in my mouth. Maybe I’m a Volunteer and maybe I’m a Supporter. I’d like to know more before I decide.”



The Path of Progressive Awareness

Because we’ve all arrived at our present awareness by different routes and at our own speeds, this simplified, seven-step diagram might not fit anyone exactly. However, this progression of awareness pattern seems to have emerged. Maybe a two-dimensional chart will provide a little direction and help us track the progress of ourselves and others.

An additional note from Les:
Reading Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ stages of death in On Death and Dying, I was amazed that it was so close to the typical path of awareness in dealing with our “death” as a species. At the time, I didn’t realize that Dr. Ross’ stages correspond more closely than my sketch shows. “Bargaining” is a stage just before acceptance. Deals with God are attempted at this point. I didn’t think it applied to VHEMT.

Over the years, I’ve shared with other Volunteers some of the many letters I’ve received asking if there’s some way out of our extinction: go into space, learn to live in harmony, invent a technological fix—something.

They had achieved an understanding of what’s been done to the biosphere, and were done being angry about it, but weren’t quite ready to accept that we must disappear. Then someone pointed out that this is the bargaining stage, and it rang true.

Just as people who know they are dying sometimes do, we could live the rest of our lives in the bargaining stage—hoping for a miracle to restore ecosystems and stop extinctions.

It’s up to each of us to grow beyond these earlier stages. No one can do it for us. A hopeful hopelessness awaits our increased awareness.


Share the VHEMT concept with others

For general advice on helping others advance their awareness, and specific advice for hosting an information table or booth, see the Outreach page.

Participate in online discussions of VHEMT

After 20 years with Yahoo Groups, the English language discussion moved to a new forum in November 2020. It’s limited to Volunteers and Supporters. The discussion group has been in existence since 1996, in various forms. A Spanish language discussion, Movimiento por la Extinción Humana Voluntaria, has also formed. In both of these forums, your first posting will be monitored and you will be able to freely post after that.

With the discontinuation of Yahoo groups, Facebook is an easy alternative for now:
US Facebook, Another US Facebook, Australian Facebook, French Facebook, German Facebook, Italian Facebook, Spanish Facebook group, Spanish Facebook Community.

Non-Facebook forum for Russian speakers.

Anyone with a Facebook account can start a group or page in their language or nation. Other forums are welcome. If you know of a VHEMT grouping of any kind which should be listed here, please let me know. Les


These EXIT Times flag

“The vehement voice of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement”

The following items may be obtained by mail order:

Bike sticker. Reflective for safety.

Thank you for not breeding
4" x 1.5" (10cm x 3.8cm)

Bumper stickers or car stickers

Thank you for not breeding

11.5 x 3 inches (29.3 x 7.6cm)

Thank you for thinking before breeding
9 x 3 inches (7.6cm x 22.9cm)

May we live long and die out
9 x 3 inches (7.6cm x 22.9cm)

Stickers above are white with green letters on eco-unfriendly plastic-coated sticky paper which last a long time in harsh weather.

Vasectomy prevents Abortion

“Vasectomy prevents Abortion.” From Respect for Life, royal blue with while letters. 7.5 x 3.75 inches (19 x 9.5cm). Additional stickers in same order are only half price.

Volunteer’s button

Black and white version of the VHEMT logo on a 1.25 inch (3.2cm) plastic-coated metal pin. Additional buttons in same order are only half price.

Volunteers' button

Meritorious Service Award

msa

Recognize the meritorious service of your friends, co-workers, and family, when they decide to not add any more of us to the billions. Frameable certificate, on fancy paper, 5.5 x 8.5 inches (14 x 21.6cm), with an EarthSeal sticker, signed by Les U. Knight. Or download a pdf of one for free.

VHEMT T-shirts

Premium quality, 100% organically-grown unbleached cotton, soft fabric, and most are union made. VHEMT logo over the heart, and the Visualize Voluntary Human Extinction cartoon on the back with “May we live long and die out” under that. Printed with fresh green ink. The back makes a great silent educator when standing in lines or queues.
To find your size, measure a T-shirt that fits you from shoulder seam to shoulder seam. A slim cut is only available in size 15". On the order form below, please circle 15"slim (38cm), 15" (38cm), 16" (40.6cm), 17" (43cm), 18" (46cm) 19" (48cm), 20" (51cm), 21" (53cm), or 22" (56cm). If you wish to be sure it’s union made, circle that preference.

Handy order form for above items

Or, order other items online from CafePress
You may choose from a couple dozen items with the VHEMT logo on them: T-shirts, caps, cups, mousepad, clock, and more. There is no text on the Ts from CafePress. International orders may be paid for with PayPal. (CafePress offerings are not affiliated with this website).

Historical issues of These EXIT Times

“Putting the mental in environmental since 1991”
Now available for downloading:

Issue number One (pdf). January 1991, 8 pages
These EXIT Times no. 1

Issue number Two (pdf). July 1992, 20 pages.
These EXIT Times no. 2
Issue number Three was not printed in order to save trees. 1993, zero pages, out of print.

Issue number Four (pdf). Printed on paper saved by eliminating number Three. August 1994, 16 pages.
These EXIT Times no. 4

And then the World Wide Web took over, saving paper, printing, postage, and time. The VHEMT website reaches more people each day than the paper version reached in a year.


Some Volunteers express their vehemence with body art.


Tummy logo tattoo
A Volunteer from New Zealand and her friend have matching tattoos, both placed over the place where no baby will ever grow.

Tummy logo tattoo
Possibly the friend of the New Zealand Volunteer above.

Paul’s tattoo
Paul’s lower leg holds the vision of greener Americas and bluer oceans.

Nick’s tattoo
Nick the Lemming in the UK sports a traditional biceps tattoo.


Meredith’s tattoo
Meredith’s is minimalist . . . for now, anyway.

hugh’s tattoo
Hugh placed his downunder his biceps, earning his stripes in the VHEMT "arm-y".

davidtat
David's “permanent reminder,” with best wishes.

EXIT