THE HUMAN SPECIES MUST BE WIPED OUT ENTIRELYNOTHING SHORT OF

EXTINCTION WILL SUFFICE

GAIA LIBERATION FRONT 1994 (A Modest Proposal, Winter Solstice,
http://www.churchofe...lf/glfsop.html)
1. Our object is not merely the continuation of life on Earth--which is, for all
we know, the only life in the universe--but the preservation of the planetary
ecosystem (Gaia) with as much of its integrity and variety as can be saved.1
2. The Humans have been usefully compared to a cancer2 or a virus.3 But it
seems to us that the must fruitful way of viewing the Humans is as an alien
species (which is why we use the definite article and the capital H). The
Humans evolved on the Earth, but have become alienated from it. They are
conscious of their alienation, drawing a distinction between the Human and
the natural, and proud of it.
Like the alien invading species of science fiction, the Humans possess a
superior technology (superior, in this case, to any of the defenses that Gaia
can throw up against them).
Every species tends to multiply, but while every other species stops
multiplying when it overshoots the carrying capacity of its ecosystem, the
Humans use their technology to keep raising the planet's carrying capacity
for their own species (and a few other species that they exploit),4 at ever
higher levels of consumption. They are even able to ward off infectious
diseases, which keep every other species from attaining overly high
population densities.
3. The planet's carrying capacity for a few species can be raised only at the
expense of other species, and, eventually, only at the risk of a general
ecological collapse. Cumulatively, the evidence is overwhelming that we are
rapidly approaching that stage. For all we know, we may have already
passed the point of no return.
The Humans' technological propensities are probably genetic, because their
basic technologies--agriculture animal husbandry, metallurgy, writing and
mathematics, hierarchy and bureaucracy--have all appeared independently
more than once. The Humans come into full view, then, as a hostile alien
species, programmed to kill the planet.
4. Because of the uncertainties involved, we can ensure Gaia's survival only
through the extinction of the Humans as a species.
Q. But don't you believe in the interconnectedness and inherent worth of
everything in nature?
A. Yes, but the Humans have disconnected themselves from everything else
in nature, so that principle no longer applies to them. Anyway, there's no
way to preserve a species that's programmed to kill the planet. The only
question is whether that species can become extinct before it takes the
planet with it.
Q. Wouldn't it be enough to reduce the Human population to some optimum
level?

A. No, because the first chance it got it would bounce right back. The cancer
analogy is useful here: what's the optimum number of cancer cells in a body?
Q. But what if the Humans went back to a paleolithic way of life?
A. You're forgetting that the paleolithic experiment has already been tried,
and that about ten thousand years ago it failed. Their technology, after all, is
in their genes. The technologies that have appeared in the past could be
expected to appear again, and this time their reappearance would be
accelerated by any surviving knowledge of formerly existing technologies.
But the appearance of specific technologies is less predictable. In particular,
the specific technology that now makes it possible for us to--assuming we
still have time--head off this crisis (more on this below) might not be
available for dealing with the next one.
Q. Shouldn't we make an exception for tribal peoples, who are living in
harmony with nature? (Another version: Shouldn't we make an exception for
non-Europeans, who were corrupted by Europeans?)
A. No, because they're all Humans. Remember that those basic technologies
were invented independently by Humans of different races, in the new world
as well as in the old. And remember that the Humans, Europeans included,
were all tribal once. Anyway, there are no Humans left on the planet who are
still totally ignorant of those technologies. Sure, some Humans picked up
certain technologies from other Humans, but that doesn't matter to the
Earth.5 If any Humans are left, they'll start the whole thing over again. Our
policy is to take no chances.
That's it. You can be sure that the Humans won't like it. They'd much rather
listen to somebody telling them how wonderful they are:
What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in
form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in
apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of
animals!
-Hamlet, II, ii
They're not only in denial about what they're doing to the planet, they firmly
believe that the death of the planet would be a small price to pay for a few
more years of life for their species.
You may even lose a few friends. But somebody has to tell it like it is.