Cincinnatians just love to joke about that old, clichéd quip often attributed to Mark Twain: “When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always 20 years behind the times.” The colloquialism is used to exemplify anything considered remotely backward, from legislation to fashion to potholes. Signs of life, though, are sprouting up around the city like a canary dandelion through a crack in the cement.  

Installing solar panels is one way a household can help the environment while saving money in the long term. In Cincinnati, one company offering the service is Solar Earth, a start-up founded by Julie Jones and Jennifer Wolford that installs solar panels on both businesses and homes.   

Bids from energy providers proposing new energy utility plans were due to City Hall Tuesday. If City Council chooses a new green provider, Cincinnati could use an energy aggregation program that would source the city’s energy supplies from 100 percent renewable resources.  

David Korten decided early on to devote his life to a noble cause addressing world poverty and spent years in Africa, Central America and Asia setting up schools to bring American business ideas to developing countries.  

I haven’t been using my ATM card lately to withdraw money from my checking account. With this financial crisis, I’m afraid that one of these days the receipt coming out of the machine is going to read, “Sorry, you’re a day late. We had to spend your money yesterday to pay our utility bill.”