For each example there is a counterexample. Experts confidently supply answers, some of them contradictory: 'Development is the best contraceptive' - or education, or the empowerment of women, or hard times that force families to postpone having children. If it is relatively easy to explain why populations grew so fast after the Second World War, it is much harder to explain why the growth is now slowing. How much difference did this make? Consider the United States: if people died throughout this century at the same rate as they did at its beginning, America's population would be 140 million, not 270 million. In Sri Lanka in the late 1940s life expectancy was rising at least a year every twelve months.

Vaccines and antibiotics came all at once, and right behind came population. Although the Industrial Revolution speeded historical growth rates considerably, it was really the public-health revolution, and its spread to the Third World at the end of the Second World War, that set us galloping. The reasons for our recent rapid growth are pretty clear. The population has grown more since 1950 than it did during the previous four million years. The increase in human population in the 1990s has exceeded the total population in 1600. There is no way we could keep going as we have been. But the rate of growth is slowing it is no longer 'exponential,' 'unstoppable,' 'inexorable,' 'unchecked,' 'cancerous.' If current trends hold, the world's population will all but stop growing before the twenty-first century is out.Īnd that will be none too soon. The world is still growing, at nearly a record pace - we add a New York City every month, almost a Mexico every year, almost an India every decade. If this keeps up, the population of the world will not quite double again United Nations analysts offer as their mid-range projection that it will top out at 10 to 11 billion, up from just under six billion at the moment. Even in Bangladesh the average has fallen from six to fewer than four even in the mullahs' Iran it has dropped by four children. In the past three decades the average woman in the developing world, excluding China, has gone from bearing six children to bearing four. Population growth rates are lower than they have been at any time since the Second World War. New demographic evidence shows that it is at least possible that a child born today will live long enough to see the peak of human population.Īround the world people are choosing to have fewer and fewer children - not just in China, where the government forces it on them, but in almost every nation outside the poorest parts of Africa. At least at first blush the news is hopeful. To try to answer this question, we need to ask another: How many of us will there be in the near future? Here is a piece of news that may alter the way we see the planet - an indication that we live at a special moment. Is this really necessary? Are we finally running up against some limits? So special that in the Western world we might each of us consider, among many other things, having only one child - that is, reproducing at a rate as low as that at which human beings have ever voluntarily reproduced. Laura believes Special Moments, 'Transform lives and memories, one child at a time.But now - now may be the special time. Laura now looks forward to serving disadvantaged children and making a difference in their lives via the services provided by Special Moments. She was also a participant in the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Program and attended the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School and then UW's Graduate School of Public Affairs where she received her (MPA) Master in Public Administration, with an emphasis in Public Management, in 1993. Laura attended the University of Washington and received her BA in Political Science in 1990. In addition to merchandising, she specialized in urban promotions, and helped create and market the branded merchandise for John Singleton's movie, Boyz N the Hood while working with Happi Nappi Wear. She also owned the retail store, The Joint and was an authorized dealer for Forty Acres and A Mule merchandise, along with other brands. Prior to entering the corporate world, Laura was the sole proprietor of LAKEnterprises her private parent company. In November 2011, Special Moments, a nonprofit organization for children, was formed. Inspired by her passions, Laura decided to form an organization that would include all three. Being a true entrepreneur at heart, three years later she shifted gears and expanded her focus to include her true passions in life: travel, event planning and children. Cook is the Founder and current CEO of Special Moments.Īfter working in management for 17 years for a Fortune 500 Transportation Company - UPS, she decided to take time off and focus her energy on raising her two young boys.

Special moments