If you think you’ve heard it all, hang onto your socks. There’s actually a group that is calling on people to abstain from reproduction in order to cause the gradual extinction of mankind. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) believes that a decrease in the human population would prevent a significant amount of human-caused suffering. The group was founded in 1991 by high school substitute teacher Les U. Knight, who concluded that human extinction would be the best solution to our problems. While VHEMT doesn’t compile a list of members — for obvious reasons — their mailing list had 400 subscribers in 1995. Six years later, the list had dropped to 230 subscribers. Knight admits that his group is unlikely to succeed, but contends that attempting to reduce the Earth's population is the only moral option. As for public reception, the organization has been featured in the book Kook: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief, and that’s about it.
