Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/04/1036141

Combining the Environment and Suffering arguments, we see two independent reasons for us to refrain from childbearing.

These arguments, however, interact with each other.

Let us begin with the observation that the Suffering argument relies on the premise that it is wrong to promote suffering in the world. This is not a contentious premise at all. The action-guiding upshots of this premise are (positively) that we should perform actions that reduce suffering in the world, and (negatively) that we should not perform actions that increase suffering in the world.

So far, so good.

The Environment argument, on the other hand, takes ecological crises to be un-choiceworthy. This is because of the impact that this would have on humanity; future generations will face the consequences of actions that are morally wrong according to the Environment argument (i.e., unsustainable, large-scale, ecological damage).

Now, why exactly does the Environment argument take the consequences of ecological crises to be an outcome that we must avoid? Realistically, the people who will meet with the harsh

Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/31/is-it-ethical-to-have-children-climate-change-family-planning/

consequences of our presently-unsustainable actions are not yet alive. Shouldn’t presently-existing people (and their interests) be more morally considerable than future-existing people (and their future-interests)?

The answer, here, is suffering; suffering that we should be minded not to bring into the world, present or future.

Bringing a child into the world, then, is morally blameworthy now more so than ever. Birthing a child now:

1. Contributes to eco-crises that harm the Earth, which the Environment argument gives us reasons to believe is morally wrong;
2. Contributes to suffering of the child, since coming into existence is necessarily a harm; and
3. Contributes to the suffering of the child, since the child will be born into a time of ecological catastrophe as a result of present unsustainable actions.

The case for antinatalism thus sees meaningful interactions between the Environment and Suffering arguments. Population growth is a snowball of suffering. The more we procreate, the more harm we exact on the environment. The more harm we exact on the environment, the more harm we exact on the future generation. The more harm we exact on the future generation, the more suffering we inflict upon them. Since increasing the amount of suffering in the world is morally wrong, we should be minded not to promote procreation.