Gerard Piel

Gerard Piel is the former editor of Scientific American and the author of Only One World: Ours to Make and Keep. In the following viewpoint, he argues that the next doubling of the human population, from 5 billion to 10 billion, can be the last—if richer, industrialized nations begin working now to help modernize poorer, developing nations. Once nations undergo the industrialization process and enjoy more stable economies, he says, the incentives to have many children dissipate. Fertility rates in the nations of North America and Western Europe, he says, have rapidly declined since the industrial revolution, and now it is imperative that this economic transformation be extended to the rest of the world.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What does Piel believe is the “most...