The Christian Science Monitor

Native plants are increasingly being favored by cities to reduce the amount of water they use.

Severe water shortages have hit Australia in recent years, and they are showing no signs of subsiding. The government has cracked down on waste, but many scientists say that global warming is the underlying cause of the shortage.

Diesel school buses are typically high polluters. But production has begun on environmentally-friendlier electric-diesel hybrid buses, and school districts in 11 states have made orders.

With one of the worst air quality ratings in the nation, metropolitan Phoenix is looking to reduce its pollution. Part of a new clean air plan targets the construction industry, which produces much of the dust that affects air quality.

Though homelessness had always been a problem in New Orleans, the issue has been amplified since Hurricane Katrina. Public officials and housing advocates are concerned about the lack of services needed to address the problem.

Spurred by extraordinary economic and urban growth, Ho Chi Minh City is experiencing a building boom. But preservationists are worried about the danger to the city's priceless colonial era heritage.

One man has set up his home with a series of solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells, and storage tanks to enable him to produce all of his own energy. But many say this system couldn't be feasible on the wide scale.

As thousands flock to the city to escape other wartorn regions, the infrastructure in Kabul is struggling to serve the Afghan capital's 3.4 million people. Funding for the city's services falls way short.

With a federal takeover of the city's housing authority underway, the fallout from the investigation into the agency's misdealings is expected to call for dramatic changes in government policy towards low-income housing.

One county in China has been exempt from the country's controversial one-child policy for two decades. Additional rules about when parents may marry and have children have kept the county's birthrate lower than the national average.

Rising property costs and the threat of hurricanes are pushing more and more people out of the Florida Keys. The area experienced a 4% decline in population between 2000 and 2005, a trend expected to continue.

The largest redevelopment project to date in New Orleans -- a city known worldwide for its music -- is aimed at bringing musicians back to town by giving them a place to live.

After floods killed more than 700 in 2001, the government in Mozambique has shifted its disaster management from 'response' to 'prevention'. With recent floods swallowing villages whole, the new disaster prevention efforts have saved hundreds.

President Bush wants to give $305 million to cities and states to come up with ways to charge drivers for traveling at peak traffic.

Experts disagree on the effectiveness of strategies ranging from reforestation and efficient cook stoves to renewable energy projects and low-carbon economies. Environmentalists are pushing for regulation of the erratic carbon offset marketplace.

A new trend appearing in the slums of Brazil is a high number of foreign tourists and expatriates who visit or even move into the impoverished areas. Meanwhile, Brazil's middle and upper classes keep their distance from the dangerous slums.

Preservation of historic African American sites may face challenges from unexpected stakeholders...groups within the Black community.

Though they serve over half of all U.S. college undergrads, two-year institutions have typically focused more on getting students to enroll rather than helping them reach their career goals. But that attitude is changing.

Arizona State University will launch the nation's first School of Sustainability next month.

The Vauban neighborhood on a former military base in Freiburg, Germany was not designed around the automobile. In fact, some streets are too narrow for them. And unlike much of Europe, this is a city made to accommodate young families with children.