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Patrick ten Brink

@patricktenbrink.bsky.social

Environmentalist, writer, art reviewer, very occasional artist - appreciating what is there to be appreciated, criticising what merits criticism, and trying to do my penny's worth for environmental justice, art and culture and hopefully spark some hope.

2,451 Followers  |  4,645 Following  |  233 Posts  |  Joined: 13.07.2024  |  1.5958

Latest posts by patricktenbrink.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Forests donโ€™t just store carbon. They keep people alive, scientists say For decades, a dominant argument for protecting forests has focused on carbon. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, store it in wood and soils, and slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases. A new scientific ...

Remember forests when thinking climate resilience : Forests donโ€™t just store carbon. They keep people alive, scientists say share.google/IkEly7kDJDbu...

14.02.2026 12:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Hands Off Nature โ€“ Defend Europeโ€™s Forests, Rivers & Wildlife Stop the dismantling of European environmental protections. Stand up for forests, wildlife, clean air, and safe water - our nature depends on it.

Sign the petition to protect the laws that protect us - our health, nature, and water. Don't let polluters and opportunistic politicians speak for you. Give nature a voice! #HandsOffNature
handsoffnature.eu?utm=.share.b...

03.02.2026 09:55 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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They built wind turbines to make power โ€” but under the sea, they โ€œproduceโ€ something no one expected Offshore turbines with natureโ€‘inclusive Reef Cubes help restore oceans, boosting marine life as Dutch wind farms show clean energy can heal underwater ecosystems.

The win-wins of the renewable energy revolution: They built wind turbines to make power โ€” but under the sea, they โ€œproduceโ€ something no one expected share.google/8iuVhomvO0fT...

23.01.2026 06:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 5    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

For the first time, published in the same literary magazine as my brother open.substack.com/pub/patrickt...

10.01.2026 09:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Charted: Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Spending (1970-2023) Comparing life expectancy and healthcare spending shows why the U.S. is a global outlierโ€”and why more spending doesnโ€™t guarantee longer lives.

Not bad living in Europe : Charted: Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Spending (1970-2023) share.google/Pvntc4PWJtmN...

05.01.2026 17:01 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Is this fair? The Global Wealth Pyramid in 2025 - Voronoi share.google/PTp7s02u9YHc...

16.12.2025 19:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 45    ๐Ÿ” 20    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 3    ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
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A braver Tory leader than Badenoch would dare to call out Farage's bogus patriotism | Rafael Behr Across western democracies, established conservatives are yielding to radical nationalism. Thereโ€™s no sign that Britain will be the exception, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

"experience of ... centre-right parties ... eclipsed by radical challengers. ... the old guard switch from denial of the threat, via defeat, to craven collaboration, ... rationalised with the delusion that a restraining influence can be exerted from the inside." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

10.12.2025 07:14 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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๐ŸŒโœจ We are at UNEA 7!

#๐—จ๐—ก๐—˜๐—”๐Ÿณ is officially underway in Nairobi โ€“ HQ of @unep.org โ€“ and with our partners weโ€™re rolling up our sleeves for a week of key negotiations and collaboration.

08.12.2025 12:01 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 13    ๐Ÿ” 5    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Renewable energies, particularly with affordable solar + battery storage outpacing fossil fuels despite anti-renewables rhetoric and climate denialism by some. Huge potential for solar advances and helping fossil fuel independence.

08.12.2025 06:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The Word Thief - The Hyacinth Review I have a confession, kept secret for years. Now that I am no longer who I was, I can share my story without fear of being seen as a monster. It may sound more like a misdemeanour than a crime, but it ...

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

03.12.2025 21:06 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Revealed: Europeโ€™s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with โ€˜far-reachingโ€™ implications

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/...

29.11.2025 08:52 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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๐Ÿ‘‹ German speaking environmental defenders.

Join our workshop in Berlin from 9th-10th December, 2025 to strengthen your skills and build up your toolbox! ๐Ÿงฐ

๐Ÿ“ Register now: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-t...

20.11.2025 11:06 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 10    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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๐Ÿ“ข Alarm Bells: Unlimited Pesticides ๐Ÿ“ข

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 ๐Ÿ˜ท

Commissioners must reject it! More below โฌ‡๏ธ

19.11.2025 15:09 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 19    ๐Ÿ” 11    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Troubling tectonic shift in the European Parliament voting alliances.

For details see New Leaf News on LinkedIn ใ€ฐ๏ธ DEMOCRATIC JENGA
www.linkedin.com/pulse/democr...

15.11.2025 07:58 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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2025 Aarhus Meeting of the Parties: what to expect? | ClientEarth Aarhus Convention Meeting of the Parties (MOP) will take place later this year What will be the hot topics?

๐Ÿ”ด Climate COPs get the spotlight โ€“ but the #AarhusConvention MOP (17โ€“25 Nov) is key to the future of environmental democracy

๐Ÿšจ With EU democracy under immense pressure, stakes are high for next week's meeting

Find out what to expect @clienteartheur.bsky.social ๐Ÿ‘‡
www.clientearth.org/projects/acc...

14.11.2025 11:48 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 3    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Is climate change really something we need to stress about? | Fiona Katauskas We could just wait until it all boils over

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...

15.11.2025 07:51 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Once a global leader on climate action, the EU has given in to the rightโ€™s green-bashing | Nathalie Tocci From deforestation to emissions trading, vital policies are being watered down in the name of โ€˜competitivenessโ€™, says Guardian Europe columnist Nathalie Tocci

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...

15.11.2025 07:17 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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How Britainโ€™s Wind Boom Has Slashed Energy Bills | OilPrice.com Britainโ€™s rapid wind energy expansion has not only overtaken fossil fuels in power generation but has also saved consumers an estimated $137 billion in energy costs since 2010.

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-...

11.11.2025 18:15 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 6    ๐Ÿ” 4    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Visualizing the Top 10 Global Risks (2020-2025) From climate change to rising polarization, we show the top 10 global risks in an increasingly uncertain climate.

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...

30.10.2025 16:36 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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How NGOs die โ€” Europe's playbook for dismantling democracy The playbook is brutally efficient: fabricate a scandal, delegitimise and defund organisations into dependency on philanthropic support, then criminalise their new funding as foreign influence โ€” all w...

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...

29.10.2025 06:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 6    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
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"Urban Enigmas Of Patrick Ten Brink" By Paul Stephenson A surreal, poetic stroll through Brusselsโ€™ overlooked streets, where orphaned objects and street life are celebrated with wit and wonder. "These well-crafted poems do justice to the everyday, to the p...

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...

27.10.2025 14:11 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Democracy is not dead.

19.10.2025 06:24 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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โ€˜A glimpse of geniusโ€™: what do unpublished stories found in Harper Leeโ€™s apartment tell us about the To Kill a Mockingbird author? When she died, the writer left behind a cache of notebooks and manuscripts. Her biographer reveals what they tell us about her unlikely rise to literary stardom

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

19.10.2025 06:22 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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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...

16.10.2025 05:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 69    ๐Ÿ” 29    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
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Pommes, oranges, tomatesโ€ฆ Quels sont les aliments les plus contaminรฉs aux pesticides et ceux qui en contiennent le moinsย ? Roulement de topinambour. Notre nourriture est contaminรฉe par au moins 183 types de rรฉsidus de pesticides. Une pollution stable, mais dont lโ€™effet cocktail โ€“ le mรฉlange de ces produits โ€“ est peu docum...

A lire avant de faire les prochaines courses....Pommes, oranges, tomatesโ€ฆ Quels sont les aliments les plus contaminรฉs aux pesticides et ceux qui en contiennent le moinsย ? share.google/BltJrn2l1i2B...

08.10.2025 05:32 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

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?

04.10.2025 06:40 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

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

04.10.2025 06:31 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Trump and Putin are threatening to carve up Europe between them. Suddenly, it all feels a bit 1939 | Simon Tisdall Forget the US presidentโ€™s seeming volte-face on Ukraine this week: he and Putin fundamentally agree that European liberal democracy is the problem, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisd...

"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...

28.09.2025 08:36 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5    ๐Ÿ” 2    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Trump is waging culture war on Europe by promoting rightwing allies, report finds Study finds US president seeks to interfere in elections and โ€˜move the ideological centre of gravityโ€™ in European politics

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

23.09.2025 05:12 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 7    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

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

15.09.2025 06:35 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 1    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

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