Remember Eric Holthaus? He’s the activist who said that he’d get a vasectomy and stop flying to save the planet from climate change. Yet, he couldn’t do either of those, had a child anyway and still flies airlines. If a committed eco-activist can’t keep his promises, one wonders how this plan could ever work? of course, Holthaus isn’t exactly prone to rational thought, but that sort of ridiculous and ugly behavior from climate alarmists is nothing new.
Some quotes from Holthaus in 2013:
Then in 2015 he says:
For natural pessimists, the inexorable destruction by climate change leads to thoughts that fall along the lines of this Jezebel headline, which asks: “ Why Would I Ever Want to Bring a Child Into This Fucked Up World?” Because really, why the hell would someone of procreating age today even consider having a baby? It feels like an utter tragedy to create new life, fall in love with it, and then watch it writhe in agony as the world singes to a crisp.
Then in the same article, contradicts himself:
My wife and I just had a baby, and it’s quickly becoming the best decision we ever made. Even though his future is uncertain, the knowledge that there’s still time left to turn things around has become a tremendously powerful motivating factor in our lives. Our baby has brought us back from the brink. It’s impossible to be hopeless with a newborn. Climate change has changed me. And I don’t think I’m the only one.
So, I’m sure this new plan will go over just as well, because surely, what we all need is some academic telling us how to live our lives.
Expert urges voluntary family planning to mitigate climate change
Professor calls for action to tackle the effect of a rapidly growing world population on greenhouse gas production
With climate change already close to an irreversible tipping point, urgent action is needed to reduce not only our mean (carbon) footprints but also the “number of feet” – that is, the growing population either already creating large footprints or aspiring to do so, argues a leading physician and environmentalist in The BMJ today.
Yet John Guillebaud, Emeritus Professor of Family Planning and Reproductive Health at University College London, says most climate change discussions focus only on technology and consumption.
He points out that 45% of the world lives in areas where total fertility rates range from 2.1 to 5, and 9% where they exceed 5. In the 48 countries designated by the United Nations as least developed, population is projected to triple by 2100.
The UN’s latest median world population projection of 11.2 billion by 2100 is predicated on continuing reductions in fertility rate, he adds. Without them, the constant fertility variant projects to roughly 28 billion by 2100.
Studies invariably show that family planning is highly cost effective compared with other emission abatement strategies, he explains.
For instance, simply by having one less child, an American woman would reduce her “carbon legacy” (the summed emissions of herself and her descendants weighted by relatedness) by 9441 tonnes, he writes. This is around 20-fold (10-fold in the United Kingdom) more than would be saved by other eco-actions.
He calls on health professionals to “advocate for voluntary family planning” and says “action on population growth as well as technology and consumption is essential to ensure that climate mayhem is both minimised and mitigated.”
On Sunday, 5th June, Professor Guillebaud will be involved in celebrations for the ecotimecapsule project. Initiated in 1994 at botanic gardens in Kew and Ness, the Seychelles, New South Wales, Mexico and South Africa, it aims to make a decent, truly sustainable future a reality for our grandchildren – and for all the wild species in Nature that humankind so threatens. http://www.ecotimecapsule.com
###
Note to Editors
Analysis: Voluntary family planning to minimise and mitigate climate change
Journal: The BMJ
Link to full article: http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/may/familyplanning.pdf
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Well I have a lazy old Uncle that MY family could do without.
g
Me too! At least we should get him vasectomized 🙂
…As I’ve said from the beginning of this mess, it has never been about saving the planet from the wicked effects of “extra” CO2….It is, and has always been, part of Agenda 21 !
Bulls eye!
Employ the false flag strategy….
Make CO2 the bad guy; capable of dire consequences, while pushing a much more deadly and nefarious agenda: World population reduction, by any and all possible means.
Having his species (the escathological cargo cult of the CAGW ZPG nutcase) go extinct cannot happen soon enough.
We should all get our castration pliers busy . . .
You know, considering the notion that evolution is supposed to insure the survival of the species-meaning the toughest, smartest, healthiest humans should outnumber the weaker, stupid, pasty white hypochondriac types, I’m rather stunned that the man was capable of fathering a child in the first place. It’s rather anti-evolutionary to me that someone as fatalistic, pathetic, smelly (from his oath to not bathe often and waste precious resources) and obviously illogical as he is would be capable of attracting a mate, let alone one willing to inflict his particular genetic and intellectual drawbacks on her offspring. 🙂
Aphan
May 27, 2016 at 9:53 am
“You know, considering the notion that evolution is supposed to insure the survival of the species-meaning the toughest, smartest, healthiest …”
Nature doesn’t test for “toughest, smartest, healthiest.” She tests for success!
Anyone who thinks Sterility is the ultimate answer should line up at the clinic for their procedure followed by a complimentary colonic.
We should all get our castration pliers busy . . .
On my grandfather’s farm, these were called nut nippers.
I’d like to turn the discussion around: if Eric Holthaus thinks he is enlightened (as he appears to think) then he should ask this question (with apologies to Kant’s Categorical Imperative): If all enlightened people have early vasectomies, who will be left to sire the next generation? Does that serve your higher purpose, Dr. Holthaus?
Can I say “what a [snip]”! (Well, obviously not all of the time…) Or would I be snipped?
[yes, -mod]
Darn
Children – can you say Communism?
Like most leftists, he wants other people to make the sacrifices.
I logged in to literally make that exact same comment.
He’ll simply try and force it all on the rest of us. ‘You must live as I believe while I live as I damn-well please.’
And then, of course, he’ll pat himself on the back for what a great guy he is for imposing the Cause on everyone else.
No sacrifice is too great for someone else to make.
It also helps if you spit a lot of vitriol to cast your targets as degenerates who have it coming.
From the article: ” If a committed eco-activist can’t keep his promises, one wonders how this plan could ever work?”
Like MarkW said, the leftists want other people to make the sacrifices.
Will never work. Those who oppose them are busy making smart, healthy, numerous babies as a natural form of “stupid offsets”. We’ll always outnumber them. 🙂
Aphan: That was the case until socialism became the norm. Now the lazy and indigent are being paid to make babies, while the workers of the world have to work harder in order to compensate for the ever higher tax burden.
Aphan:
Unfortunately, they’re also in charge of education. Out here in Oregon, the Portland school district has banned non-conformist material – at the behest of 350.org, no less – so the activists are, in fact, determining the curriculum.
“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” – George Orwell, “Animal Farm”
That about says it all for his species of animal.
The “banality of evil” comes to mind in considering this vile hypocrite’s positions and actions.
I remember reading about a case in Argentina where the parents killed the children and then committed suicide. Their reason (according to the note they left) was that they were afraid of the problems that AGW was going to cause. AGW supporters criticized “deniers” for being appalled.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/seven-month-old-baby-survives-shot-chest-parents-murder-suicide-pact-blamed-global-warming-article-1.176034
Yes, they want Americans to reduce the number of offspring. And Canadians and Europeans, western capitalist nations. But those countries already have reproduction rates far below replacement, and if not for immigration, their populations would be plummeting. In fact, the people with the highest reproduction rate in those countries are the immigrants.
Yes, and “they” tell us there is no such thing as a “great replacement”.
LOL
+1. Or considering the topic, x2. Why is this guy preaching his message to people who already have record low birth rates? Let him try to persuade people in high birth rate countries.
I know there’s a set of castrating clamps somewhere in my father’s old cattle infirmary, I’ll volunteer to take care of Eric’s promise, just get me his address and let me clear my calendar… can we say male soprano?
Actually, since we’re talking opera, the technical word you’re looking for is castrati, I kid you not …
Pointman
Well that’s mostly in Baroque Opera anyway, and the trouble with the baroque era, is they didn’t have enough castrati, so there was a continuous supply of too many nobody’s who wrote far too much trash elevator ‘music’, including idiot roles for the genderly disadvantaged.
it was trash when it was written, and it is still trash today. Unfortunately there are too many wannabe concert performing stars, so they keep dredging up all that old crap, to make records of.
It’s easy to recognize. 97% of it ends in a vowel.
G
I’m glad Eric had a kid and let the kid into his heart. A child is an amazing gift. Now, maybe that child will give Eric some perspective, something he desperately needs. Maybe Eric can learn from the process of fatherhood, that his own pathos and his own bad attitude toward his fellow men is what makes his world a living sh**hole in the first place. Maybe fatherhood will show him his world is much brighter just by not going that anymore. I sure hope he figures it out before he twists and bends the kid into a sad, resentful chip-off-the-old-block.
Eric, here’s a $200K future therapist bill avoidance tip for your kid, which you should try out as soon as you can. Tell him (or her) that MOST humans are good, kind, nice, and a few are bad. It’s NOT the other way around. Say that all people have intrinsic worth, and they all have opinions, just like you. No one has a right to deny the opinions of others, no one ought to dominate him, and visa-versa. The Golden Rule is time tested. Tell him if his happiness depends on others doing things the way he wants, he’s very likely to be unhappy. Tell him to make his own happiness, even when life is difficult. And tell him his mom and dad will be here for him even when he gets into his teenage years, and temporarily hates you.
Later on, when you realize the global warming isn’t the big deal you fear, apologize to the kid and let him know that you don’t begrudge him, or anyone, their carbon footprint. Teach him the Feynman version of science, and tell him that it’s okay if you can’t explain everything you might wish with science. If he happens to read your embarrassing history from the recent past, just explain that you were brainwashed to believe stuff by well-meaning people who didn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. Tell him not to be like you were, susceptible to that kind of propaganda and fallacious thinking, and help him not to fall victim to the insidious creep of group think and to cults.
I had a liberal relative whose child was a chip-off-the-old-block until the child became old enough to hold a job and observe the amount of money coming out of his paycheck for taxes. That same child is now quite vocal in his anti-liberal rhetoric.
Thank you. When I needed it most, a good laugh!
Actually their voices have been getting shrill for quite some time now . . .
So much recycled Paul Ehrlich Population Bomb rhetoric.
There is no population bomb in western countries. Or China or Japan. There is one in some Islamic countries. So what conclusions to draw? We must fight the truth and talk about Western countries. Islandic people must diminish before they boil this planet!
…still waiting for Mr. Ehrlich to recant his predictions.
Only a pity he didn’t go through with the [snip] and remove his lunacy from the gene pool
🙂 (no moderator needed)
Is ignorance genetic?
This poor soul has not been enlightened that a “population bomb” only exists as long as the third world is kept without affordable energy, education and private sector investment.
Affluence is the key to a controllable world population. Perhaps his progeny will understand that.
I don’t think so but, I think it’s teachable.
I would suggest an educational mission to Pakistan to him.
George Carlin debunked the ‘save the planet’ nonsense 40 years ago.
He should visit the Islamic countries and convince them about having only 1 or 2 children per family.
Well they also need the ones that are going to blow themselves up.
g
I just don’t get it – if one looks around the world today and compares to pre-fossil fuel days, things have never been better. Some people will never be happy. Anyway, according to demographic research isn’t the world population going to peak in a few years without extraneous castration?
Before world population changes much there will be serious issues within countries as aging and decline occur. There is a phrase, namely “demographics is destiny”, that applies because birth and death rates in developed countries change slowly. Migration is the unknown. Lots of reading on the web if you are interested.
Incredible shrinking countries
I am all for Professor Guillebaud volunteering to climb into his ecotimecapsule and be a scold to future generations. “If you don’t mend your ways, in another five or six generations we could be burned to a crisp. No, really.”
From the article:
Now there’s as fine a string of undefined terms and baseless claims as you’d ever want to see. It takes someone very ‘special’ to come up with that stuff.
Here’s your sign, John Guillebaud, Emeritus Professor of Family Planning and Reproductive Health at University College London.
Okay, all snark aside, he also said
MarkW got there first (just above) but it’s always the other people who need to cut,sacrifice, push up daisies, etc. so people who are really smart and really care about saving the planet can get on with their work of setting the planet aright.
I’m reminded of the chorus of that old parody song, Deterioratawhich would make an excellent serenade for the good professor.
(link to lyrics)
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/national+lampoon/deteriorata_20966831.html
“Here’s your sign,”
Omg that could be the CAGW theme song
Emission abatement for family planning – what will the Pope say?
I think he would be just like the Islamics and claim it applies to all other religions except his.
“Prosperity” results in a decreased birth rate, but it requires increased availability of energy, especially electricity, and transportation.
The prosperous people of the world are having far fewer children than their less-affluent neighbors.
The 15 nations with the highest birth rates in the world (>5.1 births per woman, 2014 data from the New World Bank) are ALL in Sub-Saharan Africa. 19 of the ‘top 21’ are African nations, and nearly all of these have a per capita GDP of less than US$1000.
Someone should tell him that an easy DIY vasectomy requires simply cutting the tubes behind the sternocleidomastoid muscles in the neck.
Some really tight rubber bands will work well in either place!
“Voluntary”, huh? Any bets as to how long it takes for the call to change to mandatory? I have to wonder how many “irreversible tipping points” have already been passed. It seems like we should already be irreversibly doomed, so why not have a bazillion kids apiece? Just think, we could hit Armageddon that much sooner, and free Gaia from the tyranny of humanity! Or something.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization promoting “the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity,” prepared a report for the UN’s 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference that called for “reducing population in the interest of the environment.” At the conference itself, Zhao Baige, China’s vice-minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission, pointed to China’s policy of forced abortion as a necessary means of controlling CO2 emissions. “”I’m not saying that what we have done is 100 percent right,” she said, “but I’m sure we are going in the right direction and now 1.3 billion people have benefited” (Xing, “Population control called key to deal“).
I say, whenever people suggest castration, we have reached a true tipping point.
Surely vasectomy itself is an emission abatement strategies.
Badum-tish!
http://www.badum-tish.com/
Voluntary family planning…for now…then Holdren’s forced abortion and sterilization under the aegis of an international enforcement institution something like a Police force for the UN. Don’t worry though; the victims/volunteers will be chosen “scientifically” so that only those likely to contribute to the new world order in a positive way will be allowed to procreate preferably in petri dishes and raised communally so that we are sure not to reenforce gender bias.
After all we can’t have human beings spreading the products of their gonads around willy nilly.
This is the Gates and Rockefeller family planning crap
The 500m population club, this is and always was the end game.
The are tired of the polloi messing up THEIR pristine wildernesses and making the best vacation spots too crowded to enjoy.