Climate babies (part 2) with Amanda Sukenick and Matti Häyry

In this episode of Non-toxic, we're talking with activist Amanda Sukenick and philosopher Matti Häyry about the state of antinatalist thinking, exploring the arguments about risk and the potential for suffering that have come to animate a certain corner of the "doomer" climate conversation.

This is the second in a two part series on climate babies. Last week, we talked to Sian Norris about far-right efforts to roll back women's bodily autonomy in order to increase populations of white Americans and Europeans and keep out people from the Global South. This week, we're thinking about the other side of the climate baby coin—from pronatalists to antinatalists—who argue humanity should cease to exist completely.

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Links:

Watch First Reformed if you haven't seen it yet.

In a survey by Hewlet Packard, 91% of parents in India, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States reported that climate change was impacting their family planning and leading them to have fewer children.

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein says your kids aren't doomed

Climate scientist Kimberly Nichols argues you can still have kids in a warming world in Under the Sky We Make.

US birthrates continue to decline.

Antinatalist philosopher David Benetar's influential book, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm Of Coming Into Existence

An interesting account of how The Population Bomb by Paul and Anne Ehrlich, incited a mass panic about overpopulation in 1968.

Reddit's childfree community has over 1.5 million members?!

Guest bios:

Amanda ‘Oldphan’ Sukenick, is an activist, writer, film-maker, and host of The Exploring Antinatalism Podcast. She lives in Chicago.

Matti Häyry is a professor of business ethics and philosophy of social science in the department of management at Aalto University in Helsinki. He is the author of several books and papers discussing the ethical dilemmas and risks of having children, including "A rational cure for pre-reproductive stress syndrome" as well as, .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}