I've written op-eds on other subjects, but today's piece published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is my first following the line of my forthcoming book, "It Matters." I argue that nature is humankind's pre-eminent guide to survival and that following its lead not only solves our environmental problems, but many personal ones as well.

Please comment here, and share widely.

Via Wayne Maceyka, an accomplished pal in the sustainability realm, I’ve now been confronted with the “ecomodernist,” who believes “technology is the solution and not the problem,” according to writer Fred Pearce.

I heard the news today, oh boy: The first op-ed I've done squarely on sustainable personal growth has been accepted for publication and will run Sunday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Yes, I have a personal interest in the subject of this brief film. She's my niece, Sarah Prager. That's also why I'm the editor of Quist, her gay-history app. But it's very possible, IMO, that you will find independent interest or knowledge from watching.

I’ve visited this neighborhood before, but upon invitation from AB Sugar, I’m returning.

An article at FoodNavigator.com carries AB’s contention that it’s unfair to single out sugar as a leading culprit in the obesity crisis.

Via The Downey Report and The State newspaper, I saw that South Carolina’s Medicaid program is beginning a program, at considerable cost, to expand access for poor residents to doctors and nutritionists to fight obesity.

Assumed: There is good reason to doubt that a registered dietitian can be trusted to help someone struggling with overweight.

As I gravitated toward a professional phase of the obesity thread of my life, I recall my friend Scott Heller advising me to check out The Biggest Loser, so that I might potentially graft onto its burgeoning following. He had the right sense, but I declined then and have been declining ever since.

Close readers of the blog know that I have occasionally hosted the work of others, and what follows below is a special treat. Rarely do celebrated authors ask if they can drop by, but that is the case here: Bruce DeSilva is an Edgar Award-winning novelist who is about to release his third book, Providence Rag. Bruce and I were colleagues at the Hartford Courant, and he was even my tenant for a month when his temporary need overlapped with my temporary vacancy. During our time at the Courant, Bruce shifted from reporter to writing coach, a path that eventually led to a high position at the Associated Press. It's easy to see now the common footing of what he preached about narrative nonfiction to Courant reporters and what he pours into his novels.

During the 40 years I worked as a journalist, I was troubled by brilliant writers such as Truman Capote and Norman Mailer, who delighted in blurring the lines between faction and fiction. How is a reader supposed to know how much of “In Cold Blood” or “The Executioner’s Song” is literally true and how much was tweaked for the sake of the narrative?

This is the last in a series of eight posts detailing concepts and attitudes for sustainable personal change. As one would expect of someone maintaining a 155-pound loss for more than 20 years, my examples have to do with food and weight, but their point is to illustrate how anyone can achieve and maintain healthy change. Today’s concept:  “Change is a choice.”