Sharing my short story on the power of poetry - The Word Thief - published by The Hyacinth Review today: hyacinthreview.org/patrick-ten-...

Already now there are severe water problems in Europe (and beyond) due to climate change - without weaning ourselves off fossil fuels asap, farmers will be undermined, whole towns, cities communities at risk, lives compromised. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

👋 German speaking environmental defenders. Join our workshop in Berlin from 9th-10th December, 2025 to strengthen your skills and build up your toolbox! 🧰 📝 Register now: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-t...

📢 Alarm Bells: Unlimited Pesticides 📢 An internal EU Commission draft proposes unlimited pesticide approvals, scrapping science-based risk checks, and 3 extra years of use after bans. A 30-year rollback that puts people's health and nature on the line 😷 Commissioners must reject it! More below ⬇️

Troubling tectonic shift in the European Parliament voting alliances. For details see New Leaf News on LinkedIn 〰️ DEMOCRATIC JENGA www.linkedin.com/pulse/democr...

🔴 Climate COPs get the spotlight – but the #AarhusConvention MOP (17–25 Nov) is key to the future of environmental democracy 🚨 With EU democracy under immense pressure, stakes are high for next week's meeting Find out what to expect @clienteartheur.bsky.social 👇 www.clientearth.org/projects/acc...

What everyone knows is insane but still somehow happening (ignoring the alarm bells and science on climate crisis impacts - Jamaica's hurricane nightmare was only a week ago) Sometimes words dont stick, how about an illustration to motivate climate talks in Brazil www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It is disheartening how EU leadership and action is being assaulted with disinformation and narratives of fear, and giving in to far right and foreign pressure, when the needs for action, benefits of action and costs on inaction are so so clear. EU should resist. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Renewable energy proven to save households billions so what is driving some governments to oppose renewables and push fossil fuels? See UCL study that found that wind power reduced consumer energy bills by $137 billion between 2010 and 2023. oilprice.com/Alternative-...

What is the #1 risk in the world (if you ask professional risk managers? The question then becomes: are leaders taking the #1 seriously or looking elsewhere, in denial? Visualizing the Top 10 Global Risks (2020-2025) share.google/z8m8jVqehffa...

A clear warning on what certain forces are trying to make happen in Europe (and that many of us are fighting back against every day). euobserver.com/eu-political...

A big thank you to Paul Stephenson (poet of the collection Hard Drive, Carcanet, 2023) for his review of my Urban Enigmas chapbook that explores the oddities in Brussels' streets: thebrusselsreview.com/paul-stephen...

Democracy is not dead.

The person behind the book. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

A useful reminder: A Human on a Bicycle Is among the Most Efficient Forms of Travel in the Animal Kingdom | Scientific American share.google/PItKvNJhK84F...

A lire avant de faire les prochaines courses....Pommes, oranges, tomates… Quels sont les aliments les plus contaminés aux pesticides et ceux qui en contiennent le moins ? share.google/BltJrn2l1i2B...

This report is a wake up call & call to action. Anyone looking at the facts can see that deregulation, the unravelling of env. & social protections, is the opposite of what leaders should be doing. We need laws to be implemented & enforced, not undermined. What world will our children inherit?

It sounds banal, but it isn't. The importance of fixing the potholes in our roads. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"The evidence grows. So does the threat. Planned or not, Trump and Putin... are working together, or at least in parallel, to undercut European democracy, security, prosperity and progressive values." We in Europe need a concerted collective resistance movement. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The facts underline that Trump and his team are trying to undermine the EU (and Russia likewise). Europe needs to chart it's own clear, fully independent, path. It is more than a cultural war. www.theguardian.com

A good article of agri-photovoltaics (in French) / Une article intéressant sur le agri-photovoltaic. Suspendre des panneaux solaires au-dessus des champs : le pari gagnant de TSE | Les Echos share.google/1UOW7UC78aBf...

Good article on freedom of expression/freedom of protest in art, and censorship www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

I am pleased that my speculative fiction novel, The Death and Life of Amelia Borgiotti, was selected to be part of the Cheshire Novel Prize's Top 100 (CNPK Top 100) today, out of over 1500 entries. I wish all the best to the 15 who have been selected to advance to the next stage!

Delighted that my poetry collection - Urban Enigmas - with 23 poems looking at Brussels through a new lens is out, published by Dipity Press. There are even poems about waste management, lost things, odd codes, and of course people: www.dipitylitmag.com/chappies

As deregulation, anti-environmental, forces are growing, it is useful to remember that laws were never put in place for the fun of it. There are human, societal or env needs, supported by facts. & laws set responsibilities. Civilisation surely is about embracing responsibilities not abandoning them?

"the rate at which humans are now injecting CO2 into the oceans and atmosphere today far surpasses the planet’s ability to keep pace. We are now at the initial stages of a system failure." An article worth reading to the end. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

there are now well-established links between common additives to plastics and falling sperm counts. ... since 1973 a 1% per year decline. studies published after 2000, show an over 2% decline. We need responsible regulation and that global plastics treaty... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

The 23 Urban Enigma poems were fun to write, looking through a new lens at Brussels. Even waste management gets some poems... www.dipitylitmag.com/chappies. And a big thank you to the great Dipity LitMag team and their illustrators.

If only country "leaders" (starting with the warmongers) put more money into the arts and less into war...

Rivers globally release about 2 Gt/yr carbon emissions, human activity 10-15Gt. Over half of these river emissions may be coming from carbon stores considered relatively stable... we need to re-evaluate these crucial parts of the global carbon cycle." Facts matter. scitechdaily.com/potentially-...

a growing body of evidence linking chemical toxicity with effects ranging from ADHD to infertility to cancer... with threats to human reproductive, immune, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, liver, kidney and metabolic systems. Surely it is time to act. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

People have diverse views and insights on wolves. Did you know that Gray Wolves Reintroduced to Yellowstone Revived a Dying Ecosystem? share.google/bifNFLfzDv57...

Collaborative artwork, 2019 by the senior Indigenous women artists of Amata in the APY Lands of Australia, who founded a women's art centre #WomensArt

"...fighting corruption, holding power accountable and making sure companies pay for the social and environmental damages they cause. That’s just making our economy more honest.” from Dr Kemp's book warning of societal collapse: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Looking forward to my little collection of Brussels-through-an-odd-lens poems come out very soon. With thanks to @dipitypress.bsky.social @dipitylitmag.bsky.social for their eagle-eyed work.

🌊 Our message to EU Environment Ministers: Europe urgently needs a strong #WaterResilienceStrategy! We must prioritise nature over short-term fixes, hold polluters accountable, and above all, take a systemic approach 🤝 Let's protect people, ecosystems, and our future. Joint letter in comments ⬇️

🚨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐔-𝐔𝐒 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. At its core is a €700 billion pledge to import U.S. fossil fuels and nuclear energy over the next three years - fundamentally incompatible with the EU’s 2030 climate targets.

PFAS, the forever chemicals, are a risk factor for several chronic diseases, such as obesity, liver disease, and diabetes as well as cancers, reproductive harm, and immune system suppression. Shouldn't they be banned and replaced by safe alternatives asap? www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

Interesting study from Germany on e-bikes and the modes they replace: "43.1% of electric bicycle trips and 63.2% of electric bicycle mileage would have been undertaken using a car if no e-bike had been available, highlighting their substantial potential to reduce transport-related CO2 emissions"

A victory for public health as a Dutch court upholds a ban on #pesticide intensive lily growing🧑‍⚖️ Why? Because the cocktail of 32 pesticides producers have been spraying just 15m from people's homes have been linked to Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and cancer! www.dutchnews.nl/2025/07/cour...

The ICJ ruling gives some needed and welcome hope for climate justice and upping efforts to mitigate calamatous climate crises. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Another good news story to start your day 🎉 www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Deregulation gathers pace in the UK, putting lives, people's wellbeing and the environment at risk from increasing numbers of harmful chemicals if the deregulation reforms take hold. A better option: legislate to encourage innovation for safe & clean alternatives. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

While many parts of the world are swamped in plastic waste, the global treaty negotiations trying to commit to collectively solving the problem is swamped by corporate lobbyists. Will private interests derail common interests, again? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Faster renewable rollout is essential for reliable, affordable energy in the EU. Our new report breaks down the key obstacles and how to overcome them: eeb.org/library/the-...

📈 What stands in the way of more renewable energy? 🤫 Spoiler: It’s not nature protection laws. The real barriers? Staff shortages, rushed public engagement, and weak grid connections.

It's good to start the day with beautiful art

🚨 According to the European Commission’s proposal for the next EU budget (MFF), the LIFE Programme as we know it – the Union’s only dedicated fund for environment, nature and climate action – would be repealed and partially absorbed into a new European Competitiveness Fund.

Toxic rivers, polluted lakes, public health threats, and businesses at risk ... yet the EU still delays water pollution rules 💧⏰ We need action on PFAS, pharma & pesticides NOW 📢 Coalitions across Europe are calling for bold leadership - over to you, Denmark! @eu2025dk.bsky.social💪 Joint letter ⬇️

A long read, but worth it. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ju...