'Help the Planet by Dying'

Rush Limbaugh recommends suicide to a NYT reporter

Rush Limbaugh has advised suicide to a reporter for the New York Times. Why? It all began when Andrew Revkin, a reporter on the environment, floated the idea that the U.S. should offer a financial incentive to families willing to limit themselves to one child. In theory, the policy would curb population growth and limit America's carbon footprint. Limbaugh lashed out at Revkin on his radio show:

This guy from The New York Times, if he really thinks that humanity is destroying the planet, humanity is destroying the climate, that human beings in their natural existence are going to cause the extinction of life on Earth -- Andrew Revkin. Mr. Revkin, why don't you just go kill yourself and help the planet by dying?

Needless to say, Revkin wasn't pleased: "This might be funny, in a sad way, if it weren't for the fact that my mailbox is already heaped with hate mail." Revkin insists he wasn't promoting the policy, just provoking a discussion on ways to curb global warming. He defended himself:

I mused on whether the next logical step, in a world increasingly fixated with carbon markets, would be carbon credits for avoided kids. This is something particularly relevant in the United States, which -- nearly unique for rich countries -- has a fast-growing population and very high rates of emissions per person.