The Christian Science Monitor

"Cat cafes" are popping up all over Tokyo, giving patrons the company of a cat -- without the burden of actually owning one. There are at least seven cat cafes in Tokyo.

California voters will soon vote on a $10 billion bond proposal that would fund a 220 mph bullet train running between L.A. and San Francisco.

The upcoming public art project by artist Olafur Eliasson that will place free-standing waterfalls in the waters around New York City highlights the power public art has to generate economic development and revenue for cities.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is pushing plans to create "21st century socialist cities" -- communities based on public participation and cooperation -- juxtaposed next to fiercely capitalist developments in the rest of the country.

Impressive growth of visitors from nontraditional places, including China, have now put tourism ahead of gold mining in Namibia.

The alternative energy sector has been booming in recent years, but is now slowing down. Could this be the end of green energy?

Sprawl around Budapest has created a major smog problem for the Hungarian capital.

The city of San Francisco is considering a proposal to require most new commercial and residential buildings to comply with the green building standard LEED.

Some geologists believe that humanity's effects on the planet are so significant and enduring that the Earth has entered a new epoch: the Anthropocene.

In Cairo, the problem of street children was once ignored, but is now a growing concern in the public consciousness. Numerous services and aid agencies have developed in recent years to help the city's impoverished children.

Members of the Dena'ina Athabascan tribe, completely surrounded by metropolitan Anchorage, struggle to preserve their language and culture.

The European Union has announced plans to make a significant cutback in its carbon emissions. Some say the plans are too ambitious and will hurt the Union's growth and competitiveness, but others argue they don't go far enough.

A 2,300-unit development near a Maine lake is facing an environmental test to determine its carbon footprint. Environmentalists say the impact is too great, but developers dispute the analysis.

A coalition of 21 countries has signed an agreement that will prohibit any development within 100 yards of the Mediterranean coast -- a broad agreement that will affect more than 29,000 miles of coastline.

Two Turkish villages illustrate the impact of radically different approaches to development.

This op-ed form The Christian Science Monitor argues that a new president would most likely enact policies to encourage family planning throughout the country and across the globe.

Funding shortages are leaving officials at the national parks with little or no power to acquire new lands, enabling private interests to buy up sensitive lands before they can be protected federally.

The first thermal plant in 16 years opened this summer in southern Nevada. And America's most expensive private development - a new hotel and casino complex on the Strip - is getting LEED certified.

Libraries for toys are popping up in developing countries all over the world, and especially in Africa, giving poor children a glimpse of a less troubled childhood. Many say the simple libraries are making big changes in the children's development.

High-tech businesses and industries are popping up in more and more rural towns, bringing jobs and boosting the economies of these small areas.