In response to a YouTube video at:

https://youtu.be/nXUbkhl_uuQ

(The Real Cause of Poverty with Matthew Desmond - Factually! - 215)

I wrote the following comment ("7 months ago", they report, which must be the summer of 2023):

I became a POVERTY ABOLITIONIST in 1980, when I was 18. I am aware that there are many different forms of 'poverty'. Some people have 'poor vision', 'poor hearing', and some have 'poor taste' in men/women. I also understand that the word 'poor' means different things in different cultures and subcultures. For these and other reasons, I declare that the kind of poverty that I fight against is 'unearned/unchosen chronic human material poverty on Earth' (UCHMPE for short). One of the reasons for this narrowing of the target is the fact that SOME PEOPLE CHOOSE OR EARN POVERTY. Monks and 'sisters' of certain faith groups gladly "embrace lady poverty". It is not my (or your?) place to try to make them change their minds. Some people EARN their poverty through their crimes against other people, the flora and the fauna, or to scarce natural resources. For instance, if a person deliberately starts a major fire, destroys lives and/or property, his/her lifelong condemnation to material poverty for the rest of his/her life may be (depending on the damage that he/she has caused) far less than adequate compensation for his/her crime. 'Chronic' is there, because I am aware that natural disasters, accidents, etc., may render some people poor for a while, until help arrives. 'Human' is there, because (concerned) human beings, even when we work together, cannot prevent the poverty of certain species. Besides, some species are our killers; and it does not make sense for us to show them sympathy. If pregnant, thirsty mosquitoes die by the billions, I say "Let them die!" That said, as an environmental activist, I join many others in global efforts to improve the lives of countless other species of animals and plants. 'Material' is there, because some forms of poverty may be in the eye of the beholder. For instance, people who are not religious may be seen by religious people as hapless souls living in 'spiritual poverty'. Likewise, many people who choose not to make any effort to educate themselves in certain fields may be deemed 'culturally poor'. Such poverty may not be fairly or competently addressed by social policies. 'On Earth' is there, because, as I see it, members of our species can be lifted out of poverty only by securing for each other safe and free access to the natural resources, the flora and the fauna on this planet. Those who choose to leave the Earth cannot have a just demand on the rest of us to provide them with continuous supply of water, food, etc. In the dark and cold space (until arrival on a similarly resource-rich planet) every astronaut should understand that he/she is doomed to be poorer than the poorest monk on Earth, no matter how expensive their spaceship and equipment might be. (One can't even pick dandelions in space.) I believe that it is possible to ERADICATE the kind of poverty that lies within this framework --barring a major natural catastrophe, such as the collision of a large comet into our planet, etc. Few may be qualified to offer an 'educated guess' as to how long it might take to eradicate UCHMPE. It seems to me that it should not take more than two decades. I came to the U.S. in 1988. If the successive governments in this country had adopted a subset of what was socially possible, the poor and/or the conscientious among us would not have been condemned to be surrounded by it TODAY. I wrote a few thousand words in relation to this issue (which, as I see it, is connected to many other global and local issues). I promise to share some of my proposals free of charge. I also remain open to proposals by others (even if they do not share some of my core values or my optimism about the possibility of collectively eradicating UCHMPE). One short message is: STOP BRINGING CHILDREN INTO THIS WORLD!

As I state in at least two of my (unfinished) books, my message to human beings of my age to refrain from having biological children is meant for a limited time only --until certain global problems are alleviated.