Looking at the dark side

Seven billion and counting

Newborn baby Juwanda sleeps after being taken to a nursery at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., Oct. 31. The United Nations set that day as the date the planet's population reached 7 billion.

"When people look at this 7 billion baby thing, they're looking at the dark side of it rather than the possibilities side of it. It's not something to be frowned on and discouraged," said Jesuit Father Richard Ryscavage, director of the Center for Faith and Public Life at Fairfield University in Connecticut, who recently took some students to the United Nations.