Step Up For Nature
Pick Of The Week – 18th August 2025
This newsletter is a curated cornucopia featuring some of the best of Medium and Substack, and the wider world, rumoured to exist outside of these platforms.
Please note that in view of the impact of AI on the writing community, Eco has a stringent “No AI-content” policy, and will seek to actively avoid any articles we consider to be partly or fully generated by AI, and not feature authors believed to be using it in this way again. We are fully committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. In support of our aims and objectives, 10% of earnings from this series will be donated to Greenpeace.🌈
This newsletter is currently published free on Substack, but if you would like to support us please do pay to subscribe.
Sponsors – a link to donors and paying Substack subscribers 🦄 will appear here:
Ecosia; The Environmental Transport Association; Mary Grindeland; Writer Chick With A Ukulele; Adéla Valčíková; Rob Moir; Lucysun
Pick of Medium – (advisory allergy note – may contain poetry)
Adel speaks up for nature:
https://medium.com/feral-logic/the-lie-hidden-in-nature-will-take-care-of-itself-0dfc06f57745
Emma Rose wants a better world and offers rebellious hope:
Carlo Zeno shares tips on being a successful writer (don’t):
https://medium.com/all-about-m/10-ways-to-make-money-as-an-online-writer-dc111e595602
Deepak Mehta fears a dead internet:
https://medium.com/readers-club/i-watched-quora-die-heres-what-i-saw-62e0118c0df2
The Masked Muse calls for integrity:
Susie Kearley puts some creatures in the frame:
https://medium.com/full-frame/playing-with-macro-bugs-141ab3039c38
Martin Heiland-Sperling explores boredom:
https://medium.com/a-trip-to-self/is-a-boring-life-worth-living-e6d53da32229
Iqra Arshad applies the GIGO rule to life:
https://medium.com/write-a-catalyst/the-ai-rule-that-changed-my-life-4044731e2125
Carlo Zeno is misunderstood:
Bin Jiang wants you to focus:
https://medium.com/write-a-catalyst/write-like-your-landlord-is-waiting-310af19dd7c2
Justin Cox explores Substack and the alternatives:
https://writingcooperative.com/is-substack-really-that-bad-cd2eb7e6b335
Marya Khan forgets dessert:
https://medium.com/one-plate-story/the-forgotten-fruit-salad-07d98147b51e
Adel thinks like an ecologist:
Anne The Vegan explores the world of victims:
https://medium.com/bouncin-and-behavin-blogs/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-perfect-victim-4af244932ae1
Burk wonders if Substack will remain free:
https://stories.byburk.net/can-substack-sustain-a-free-model-forever-625f99ebd9dd
Tip of the week –
Bin Jiang shares some tips:
Pick of Substack:
Linda Caroll shares a golden rule of writing:
Deepak Puri considers the risks to the future of Substack from the politics of a new investor:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-169933940
Susan Fourtané shares her latest tech newsletter:
Peter William Murphy is mansplaining:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-170756367
Retaining rainwater and using it wisely seems increasingly important, due to increasing droughts and floods, while recognising the rights of the natural world, as Rob Moir explains:
Priyanshu Jha breathes hope:
https://substack.com/@jpriyanshu347/p-170693588
Carlo Zeno is misunderstood:
Landon Poburan analyses what readers want:
The wider world:
There is some positive news on nature restoration in the UK amid the doom and gloom:
Ageing electricity cables are creating extensive pollution:
Vienna is exploring the concept of “parklets”, in which mini-parks take the place of parking spaces:
Working with the land is helpful for former prisoners:
Scientists have discovered extensive “sex reversal” in some birds, which may be linked to endocrine-disrupting chemicals:
A Scot has been named “Girl of the Year” by Time Magazine for inventing a solar-powered electric blanket to help rough sleepers in winter:
Talks to agree on a plastic reduction treaty have failed:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/15/plastic-pollution-talks-geneva-treaty
The destruction of Iraq’s ancient wetlands continues despite regime change:
Wet wipes are creating a new hazard in the River Thames:
High levels of forever chemicals have been discovered near UK airports:
Residents of the island nation of Tuvalu face the reality of relocation due to rising sea levels:
Fungal networks play a key role in forest regeneration:
For some light relief after the doom and gloom:
AI News
AI develops new antibiotics:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgr94xxye2lo
A Gen Z panel discuss their thoughts on AI:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/16/gen-z-ai-technology-hope-panel
Life Hack of the Week –
Seize the day, urges Loshan:
https://medium.com/@thanuyanloshan/the-most-dangerous-excuse-is-ill-start-tomorrow-906b79e69267
Quote of the Week:
“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.”
--Bradley Miller
Joke of the Week:
(Health warning – swallow coffee before reading)
If you’re here for the yodelling lesson, please form an orderly, orderly,
orderly queue.
One spelling mistake can ruin your life – a husband sent his wife a postcard: “Having a lovely time, wish you were her.”
I was setting a voice recognition password for my new phone when a nearby dog barked and ran away. Now I am still looking for the dog to unlock my phone.
Biologists have crossed a watermelon with a cauliflower. People who eat the new variety, get a sense of sadness known as meloncauli.
I asked my wife how to turn Alexa off and she said: “Try walking through the room naked.”
Did you know?
CarolF goes to the dogs:
https://medium.com/@carol.finch1/one-minute-facts-doggy-fairy-horses-c972c1c3d032
Word of the Week: delulu
Delulu – a new word just accepted into the Cambridge English Dictionary meaning delusional, as highlighted in this article, which features some other new arrivals, skiibidi, tradwife and mouse jiggler:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce93ygv4zzlo
Clip of the Week: “Alors on danse” - Stromae
As always, thank you for reading, and enjoy your day.
Editor’s comment: It is noted that the authors featured above have not consented in advance to their inclusion - I have assumed that authors appreciate a mention and sharing of your work – but if you do not wish to be featured please let me know and apologies.










John, Thank you for posting my piece we cool the planet and promote nature when stop the property tyranny by recognizing the lands natural right to let the rain that falls on it seep in, keep soil moist, prevent fires, and recharge rivers. Why suffer stormwaters when we can put water to work revitalizing the land?
Thank you so much, John, for picking my profile and tagging me. 🤝🙌✨