Not only pro-natalists misunderstand or misrepresent antinatalist arguments. In a former post I’ve addressed a position against human extinction for ecological reasons that totally misrepresents the environmental argument for antinatalism, by someone who declares that he has great sympathy for the antinatalist position.
In this post I’ll address another opposition to the ecological antinatalist argument, but this time by someone who is most definitely an antinatalist and a very articulate one. In a blog called Why I’m Sold On Antinatalism, the author – Filrabat, thoroughly and effectively explains the logic of being antinatalist for philanthropic reasons, only that he is doing it while misrepresenting the environmental argument for antinatalism. Same as Magnus Vinding which I have addressed in the former post, he presents the ecological argument as if its only version is the one expressed by VHEMT.

I don’t consider myself as ecological antinatalist, and as explained in the post Involuntary Human Extinction Movement, I don’t share the same arguments nor motive for human extinction as VHEMT, therefore I’ll not defend it here, but I do find it important to correct some of the false assertions presented in Filrabat’s article.

Basically Filrabat rejection to the ecological antinatalist argument is as follows:

“I do not find the ecological antinatalist arguments compelling because they (a) overlook that a much reduced human population with our technology level can be ecologically sustainable, (b) ignore that humans have at least as much right to exist as other lifeforms, (c) handwave away the fact that other species can and have disrupted ecosystems with no human involvement in the process whatsoever, even in recent times (d) apparently find irrelevant that, on a humanless earth, animals still would suffer greatly at the hands of other animals (especially predators), microbes, and natural disasters.”

So as mentioned I am not an ecological antinatalist since I don’t consider ecological systems as moral patients. Ecological systems, the environment, species, and similar terms often ascribed to the ecological argument, are not entities and therefore don’t hold any moral status. Their moral relevancy is only instrumental, not intrinsic, they are important only because they are important to sentient creatures who are harmed when they are affected. I think that people must stop creating new people because each person severely harms numerous other sentient creatures, not because humanity affects the insentient ecological environment in which sentient creatures live.
Anyway I reject his 4 rejections and I think their basic flaw is that they incorrectly present the claims they criticize (though to some extent that is because these claims are often falsely represented by their own supporters).

(a) overlook that a much reduced human population with our technology level can be ecologically sustainable

Filrabat’s first rejection demonstrates considerable and depressing ignorance regarding the harms caused by human technology. Most people know about fossil fuels, pesticides, lead, plastic and etc., but these are just the more famous harmful examples of human activities, while in fact all human activities are harmful. The current human technology level would still be very harmful even if human population would be significantly reduced.fragment their habitat

In the text about the harm to others, I specify some of the main causes of harms humanity inflicts on other animals, so please read it to get a better notion of how ridiculous this claim is. However, even focusing on “just” one aspect of human technology is sufficient to refute Filrabat’s first rejection. So in this text I’ll focus only on one aspect of human technology, one which is usually overlooked – light pollution.

Artificial light pollute the environment of other animals by humans’ use of public lighting, road lighting, buildings lighting, billboards, stores which are over-lit to attract customers, parking lots, sports centers, vehicles and etc.

Light pollution, often referred to as Photopollution, has various forms:
Light trespass – light falling where it is not intended or needed even by humans
Clutter – bright, confusing and excessive groupings of light sources
Glare – excessive brightness that causes reduced contrast, color perception, and visual performance
Skyglow – brightening of the night sky

The impact of light pollution on other animals is extremely harmful. By altering the natural cycles of light and by illuminating the environment, light pollution modifies the behavior, physiological functions and biological rhythms of other living beings. It affects animals’ orientation, navigation, feed, reproduction, and communication.
For example, exposure to artificial light causes nocturnal animals a repulsive response, meaning they move away from light sources. Since humanity’s light pollution is so intensive, the habitats of nocturnal animals which are constantly shrinking as it is by humanity’s expansion, further shrink by humanity’s light pollution.

Other animals are not repulsed by light but are attracted to it – they approach light sources.
Artificial light sources can outshine natural light sources, causing birds to be drawn to or fixate on the artificial lights. This results in birds deviating from their intended migration route, flying until they experience exhaustion and collapse. Marine birds such as albatrosses are known to collide with lighthouses, wind turbines, and drilling platforms at sea due to their bright lights.
The Fatal Flight Awareness Program has estimated that anywhere from 100 million to 1 billion migrating birds are killed every year because they collide with buildings, which in part is due to artificial lighting.
Other animals that use starlight to move in the dark are disorientated by artificial lighting, and often collide with large lighted structures, burn themselves in contact with lamps, or starve and are dehydrated as they limit their movements and their search for food and water to artificially lighted areas.

Reptiles such as sea turtles are greatly affected by light pollution. Female turtles nest on dark remote beaches, so bright coastal lights prevent them from finding safe nesting areas for their eggs. This leads the female turtles to deposit their eggs in an unsafe area or the ocean. Sea turtle hatchlings instinctively crawl toward the brightest part on the beach, which for many centuries was the moonlight and starlit ocean; however, excessive lighting on the beach or near the shore confuses the hatchlings and causes them to wander away from the ocean. The hatchlings may be eaten by predators, run over by vehicles, or die from dehydration or exhaustion. Artificial lights also disorient other nocturnal reptiles.

Light pollution also damages visual communication, especially among bioluminescent animals who communicate by emitting light signals. In the presence of strong illumination, the visibility of light signals is significantly reduced.
Michael Justice, a behavioral ecologist who studies how artificial light affects insects said that we must “Start thinking of a photon as a potential pollutant. Much like a chemical spill or gas leak, the photons being used to light your porch and street can unintentionally leak into surrounding areas and affect the local ecology at every level from plants to apex predators”.

Light pollution also contributes to habitat fragmentation. The example of nocturnal insects is a perfect demonstration of this. An artificial light source can attract nocturnal insects within a radius of 400 to 700 meters. However, in urban areas, streetlights are only 30 to 50 meters apart. Illuminated traffic lanes are therefore real artificial barriers that stand along people’s routes. Considering the attraction that artificial light exerts on nocturnal insects, these barriers therefore limit their movements and fragment their habitat.

And all that is only part of the effects of light pollution which is only part of all of humanity’s pollution which is only part of all of humanity’s harms.
For a more complete picture (but still very partial, as the list of harms humans are causing is practically endless) please read the text the harm to others.

Claim (a) is false since there is no way human technology can ever be ecologically sustainable, and since there is no way humans would voluntarily reduce their population, and since there is no way humans would voluntarily reduce their technology level, and since ecologically sustainable is not a metonym for a good thing in an ethical sense. An ecological system can be sustainable but violent and horrible. Sustainability is a euphemism for the constant struggle to survive under extreme environmental pressure. Sustainability is a product of constant violence and suffering. It is a biological description, not an ethical prescription.

Looking at the current level of human destruction it seems logical that if human population size decreases it can be ecologically sustainable, but that is only compared to the current unbelievably destructive state of affairs. Had this argument been claimed when the human population was more or less at the level Filrabat has in mind, minus the current technology level, suggesting to add the current technology level, obviously would have been considered a blunt violation of the ecological sustainability. In other words, only under the current horrible situation it seems reasonable to suggest that humans can preserve the current level of technology. But this is wrong conceptually and ethically.

It is conceptually wrong since it is not that the ecological system would determine when it is sustainable, or that each and every creature who is depended on each and every ecological system would participate in determining when each is considered sustainable, but that everything would be decided according to humans’ interests and perspective. They would decide what would be the initial population size in each ecosystem, and that would be the criterion from then on. According to Filrabat it sounds as if there is an external criterion for ecological sustainability and that it can be reached. But not only that there is no external criterion, there are only human ones.
The problem with that is not theoretical anthropocentrism, but practical speciesism. The problem is that humans would define sustainability according to their own interests. If they decide that a population of 40 million people in a specific ecosystem, living with the current level of technology is sustainable, then from now on, this ecosystem is sustainable if the human population is about 40 million people. But obviously before humans have invaded that particular ecosystem it had a whole different criterion for being sustainable. It is a human definition, set according to human standards and interests. Had other animals had a say in what is considered sustainable I doubt that the current level of human technology would be part of the definition.

And it is ethically wrong since what matters ethically is not how sustainable the ecosystems are, but how the creatures living in them feel. Under Filrabat’s false description, what matters are the ecosystems, despite that ecosystems don’t feel. Truly, this is how many supporters of the ecological antinatalism present the argument, so they are also responsible for the misrepresentation of the argument. But that makes only this particular rejection of Filrabat valid, and only under a false description of the issue. When considering humanity’s massive harm not to the sustainability of ecosystems, which are not moral entities, but to trillions of its inhabitants, who most definitely are moral entities, I fail to see how it is not wrong for humans to procreate.

(b) ignore that humans have at least as much right to exist as other lifeforms

First of all I don’t think there is such a thing as a right to live before one exists. But even if I’ll accept it for the sake of the argument, humans would have the same right to exist as other lifeforms had they lived like other lifeforms. But humans live as masters of the universe (and evil ones it must be added), not as other lifeforms. Their dominance and harmfulness is unprecedented. There is no other species that is even remotely as harmful as humans. No other lifeform is imprisoning other lifeforms for their entire lives. No other lifeform totally shatters other lifeforms’ social lives. No other lifeform prevents access to clean air, clean water, and natural environment. No other lifeform prevents access to natural food. No other lifeform is constantly genetically modifying other lifeforms to extract more meat, milk, eggs, skin, wool, feathers, fur and etc., from other lifeforms. No other lifeform castrates other lifeforms. No other lifeform burns numbers on other lifeforms. No other lifeform cuts the horns, tails and teeth of other lifeforms. No other lifeform rides, chains, and enslaves other lifeforms. No other lifeform forces other lifeforms to dance, do tricks, to dress up, to jump fences, to fight each other. No other lifeform experiment on other lifeforms.

Humans have an extremely high harm toll which makes supporting their right to exist a support in the violation of the rights of anyone who is hurt by them.

Filrabat presents the claim as if it is one human individual against one nonhuman individual and as if ecological antinatalism is choosing to favor the nonhuman, while practically it is one human individual against ten thousands of nonhuman individuals. It is very hard to estimate the harm other creatures are forced to endure for each human but in any case it is an enormous one under all circumstances (such as different lifestyles) and from several aspects, as humans are making the lives of many animals very miserable.

The human race is the only species ever who chooses to unnecessarily harm others, despite that it can easily choose not to. It is also the only species who can choose not to procreate. But I am in favor of human extinction not because it has no right to exist or because it is evil since it can choose otherwise (I don’t really think it can choose otherwise, the urge to breed is too biologically imprinted, and the indifference to other creatures’ suffering for the most trivial and needless pleasures is, due to several inherent psychological traits, to a large extent not really under its full control), but only because of the tremendous harm it causes to others, including other humans of course.

Filrabat writes that “We’re made of the same basic chemical elements and molecules, after all.” But that is a straw man argument. No one is arguing that the human race better be or must be extinct because humans are made of different basic chemical elements and molecules. The claim for human extinction, and that goes for the one expressed by VHEMT as well, is that the human race acts like a cancerous tumor in the planet, not that humans are actually cancer cells. The motive behind human extinction is their ecological harm, not their biological structure.

Later in the article Filrabat claims that rights should be ascribed to not yet exiting people despite the common objection to ascribe rights to non-existing persons. I am not necessarily against this position, but it is surly very controversial, even among antinatalists. However ascribing rights to existing persons is not controversial. So the question must be asked, how come according to Filrabat, humans, even if they don’t yet exist and might not exist in the future, should be gained with rights, but existent sentient creatures, who weren’t born to the “right” species, shouldn’t?

One of Filrabat main reasons for being an antinatalist is because he thinks it is morally wrong to create a person without consent. I totally agree. However, not only the person who is about to be born, is going to be harmed without consent as a result of its existence, but also thousands of others who would be harmed as part of providing the living support for that person. A “support” none of them has ever given consent for. Even if we could have obtained consent from non-existing persons before creating them, we first must ask for consent from everyone who would be sacrificed and otherwise harmed by these persons. We must get their permission to be genetically modified so they would provide the maximum meat possible for the to-be born persons. We must get their permission to be imprisoned for their entire lives. We must get their permission to live without their family for their entire lives. We must get their permission to suffer chronic pain and maladies. We must get their permission to never breathe clean air, walk on grass, bath in water, and eat their natural food. We must get their permission to be violently murdered so the to-be born could consume their bodies. We must get their permission to destroy their habitats, pollute their land, water, and air. But has any human ever received consent to harm any animal? Did anyone ask the chicken forced into the egg industry if she is willing to live in a battery cage? Were animals asked for their opinion on the number of people that should exist “sustainably”? Did anyone ask any animal what should be the level of human technology in their shared ecosystem? Did anyone ask for the permission of other creatures who are about to be poisoned? Do we have the consent of tree dwellers to cut their home? No one is asking them. And it is not even because everyone knows they would never give their consent, but because others’ harms matter so little to people, that no one even thinks they must be asked.

Another reason Filrabat mentions for being an antinatalist is that he opposes taking risks at others’ expense. Again I totally agree that the risk of serious suffering is a sufficient reason for antinatalism, however I disagree that there is a risk of serious suffering when procreating, as serious suffering is most certainly guaranteed. In terms of general harm, procreation is not at all a gamble or risk that harms would be inflicted, since it is absolutely certain that the person created would severely harm others. Even if the person created would have a great life which s/he is glad to have, it is absolutely certain that serious harms would be inflicted by that person. Therefore procreation is not taking a risk of causing harms, it is indifferently deciding to cause harms.

(c) handwave away the fact that other species can and have disrupted ecosystems with no human involvement in the process whatsoever, even in recent times

I find all of Filrabat’s claims for rejecting the ecological argument rather odd, and this one is probably the oddest. I think that if it was possible to accumulate the harm of all the creatures of all the species that ever lived, their disruption of ecosystems wouldn’t come near the level of human harm, even of the current human generation only. This claim is beyond ignorance. No one is that ignorant regarding humans’ harm to ecosystems compared with the harm of other species. I have no doubt that this claim is a consequence of the desire to strengthen an opposition to the ecological argument. I find it hard to believe that such an intelligent and knowledgeable person seriously believes in such a statement, which is not supported by any historical record.

Filrabat mentions beavers as an example of a significantly ecosystem disrupting species (along with elephants who have supposedly turned Africa from fairly thick woodlands into a savanna). However, the number, the effect, and the disruption of dams built by humans all along history dwarfs anything that all the beavers had ever done despite that beavers exist way longer than human dams are around.

It is estimated that there are 800,000 manmade dams worldwide. Dams are used to store water, for irrigation, to control floods, and for electricity production. Manmade dams have a tremendous negative impact.

The most significant effect of dams on other animals is the loss of land which includes forests, valleys, marshy wetlands, and etc. Flooding of areas drowns a great many shrubs and trees, which adversely affects many species of birds that nest in them, while marshland is a very valuable environment for other birds.

Every animal or plant tends to have a well-defined habitat, or situation in which it thrives and to which it has become adapted. Destruction of their habitats forces more and more birds and mammals to migrate to new environments where they have to struggle against the native animals, as well as readapt to the environmental conditions.

The migratory pattern of river animals like salmon, sturgeon, and trout are extremely affected by dams. Dams divide rivers, creating upstream and downstream habitats, but migratory fish, such as sturgeon, depend on the whole river. Dams block their ability to travel back upstream. Sturgeon fish also rely on temperature triggers and shallow areas for reproduction. Because dams change how rivers flow, the water temperature and natural conditions also change.

Other animals commonly affected by dams are egrets, who along with other wetland birds, depend on healthy river systems for food and shelter. They make their nests in the steep banks of rivers or floodplain thickets. Dams prevent the natural highs and lows of rivers.

River dolphins are also highly affected by dams as they need high quality water and safe migratory routes to survive. Poorly planned dams often reduce dolphins’ food supply, change water quality and destroy habitats. As dams are constructed, the dynamite and noise can harm river dolphins. Once the dam is up, increased boat traffic can lead to more injuries and deaths from collisions.

Another significant impact of dams is changes in temperature, chemical composition, dissolved oxygen levels and the physical properties of a reservoir, which are often not suitable for the aquatic animals and plants that evolved in a given river system. And so, reservoirs often host non-native and invasive species that further undermine the river’s natural communities of animals and plants.

Dams serve as a heat sink, as the water is hotter than the normal river water. This warm water when released into the river downstream affects animals living there.
Slow-moving or still reservoirs can heat up, resulting in abnormal temperature fluctuations which can affect sensitive species. Other dams decrease temperatures by releasing cooled, oxygen-deprived water from the reservoir bottom.
In addition, peak power operations (in dams for electricity production) can change the water level thirty to forty feet in one day and can kill the animals living at the shorelines.

Dams can also degrade water quality when organic materials from in and outside rivers build up behind the dam. When the movement of sediment is disrupted, materials build up at the mouth of the reservoir, starving downriver ecosystems of vital ingredients. These backed-up materials, when decomposing, often result in algal blooms that consume large amounts of oxygen, creating oxygen-starved “dead zones”.

Dams also contribute to global warming. Over 20 years, the warming impact of annual large dam methane emissions is equivalent to 7.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

Nearly 500 dam projects are currently in the pipeline worldwide. Within the next 30 years, thousands of new dams are expected to be constructed globally.

So, beavers’ ecosystem disruption is probably billionth of humans’ ecosystem disruption. And that’s only one disruption out of an endless list of harms that humans are constantly causing.
Comparing the ecosystem disruption of any other animal, or even all of them put together (and probably even all of them put together from the beginning of each existence), with humanity’s ecosystem disruption is simply ridiculous.

(d) apparently find irrelevant that, on a humanless earth, animals still would suffer greatly at the hands of other animals (especially predators), microbes, and natural disasters

Although it is true that animals still would suffer greatly at the hands of other animals even if humans would go extinct, that claim is only relevant if the ecological antinatalist argument was that if the human race goes extinct all the suffering would stop. That is not the argument and if it was, obviously it would have been false. The argument is that the human race is unproportionately the most harmful species ever in the history of the world and other creatures’ biggest problem, so it is best if it goes extinct, not that all the world’s problems would be solved if it did. No one thinks that, so I wonder why Filrabat chose to confront the weakest version of the argument. Clearly animals still would suffer greatly at the hands of other animals, and I wish there was a way to make everyone go extinct, but it is not that the argument is only valid if all the suffering stops, and if it doesn’t, then the argument loses all its validation. If an action can stop most of the suffering but not all of it, it is not a justifiable reason not to perform that action if possible. Human extinction cannot and is not presented as a perfect solution, exactly because animals would still suffer greatly at the hands of other animals, but that is not a reason not to do everything possible to help all the animals who otherwise would still suffer greatly at the hands of humans. It is like arguing against world peace because there would still be great suffering from car accidents. That would be factually true but ethically irrelevant as a case against world peace.

All that this claim shows is that the human race is not the only problem, not that it is not a problem, or that it is not the biggest problem. My focus on humans is not because I think there are no other problems, but because I think humans are the biggest one and because I think it is more solvable. I know that unfortunately the world would stay horrible after human extinction, but much less. Much much much less.

“If we assume humans deserve self-omnicide on the grounds that environmental damage they create causes animals to suffer, then we have to eliminate all other animals that cause ecological damage that causes other animals to suffer as well. It doesn’t matter if these animals are generally considered part of the “authentic” ecosystem. Furthermore, it’s also based on the assumption that one should reduce harm to the minimum reasonable.”

I am in favor of eliminating all other animals that cause other animals to suffer as well. I am not favoring nor idealizing life in nature or in general. Was it realistic to sterilize every creature on earth I would unhesitatingly fully support that. That could be the most wonderful thing that ever happened to life on earth. I am an efilist who focuses on human extinction for practical reasons.
The reason I advocate for human extinction is because they are by far the biggest harm, and since it is by far more realistic than the extinction of all other life forms that cause harms.
Following the logic of the last sentence in the quote above – since the human race causes the maximum harm, reducing harm to the minimum reasonable is to aim at human extinction.

I call for human extinction in the name of trillions of sentient victims per year, not in the name of their species, nor in the name of their ecosystems, nor since humans deserve to go extinct, or because I think it would solve all the problems in the world, or because humans have no right to exist. I relate to none of these claims. My claim and motive is the harm to others.
The human race is the biggest problem in the world more or less since their first step in it. That’s why I aim and hope that they would make their last one as soon as possible.

Every day the human race provides us with more and more reasons for its extinction. And every day it provides us with less and less reasons to believe it would ever happen voluntarily. For it to finally happen, we must make it happen.

References

Why I’m Sold On Antinatalism Personal Reasons Part IV Sunday, September 12, 2010

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What are the Negative Effects of Building Large Hydroelectric Dams? By Chief Engineer Mohit Sanguri