Patrick ten Brink

‘She dared to be difficult’: How Toni Morrison shaped the way we think The Beloved author’s refusal to conform made her a hero to many – and the only black female writer to have won a Nobel prize in literature

An interesting, insightful article on the importance of being difficult (or rather standing up for one's truth) - on the beloved Toni Morrison. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

Forests don’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 don’t just store carbon. They keep people alive, scientists say share.google/IkEly7kDJDbu...

Hands Off Nature – Defend Europe’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...

They built wind turbines to make power — but under the sea, they “produce” something no one expected Offshore turbines with nature‑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 — but under the sea, they “produce” something no one expected share.google/8iuVhomvO0fT...

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

Charted: Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare Spending (1970-2023) Comparing life expectancy and healthcare spending shows why the U.S. is a global outlier—and why more spending doesn’t guarantee longer lives.

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

Is this fair? The Global Wealth Pyramid in 2025 - Voronoi share.google/PTp7s02u9YHc...

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. There’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...

🌍✨ We are at UNEA 7!

#𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗔𝟳 is officially underway in Nairobi – HQ of @unep.org – and with our partners we’re rolling up our sleeves for a week of key negotiations and collaboration.

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.

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-...

Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ 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/...

👋 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...

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?

🔴 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...

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...

Once a global leader on climate action, the EU has given in to the right’s green-bashing | Nathalie Tocci From deforestation to emissions trading, vital policies are being watered down in the name of ‘competitiveness’, 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...

How Britain’s Wind Boom Has Slashed Energy Bills | OilPrice.com Britain’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-...

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...

How NGOs die — 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 — 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...

"Urban Enigmas Of Patrick Ten Brink" By Paul Stephenson A surreal, poetic stroll through Brussels’ 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...

Democracy is not dead.

‘A glimpse of genius’: what do unpublished stories found in Harper Lee’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...

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...

Pommes, oranges, tomates… Quels sont les aliments les plus contaminés aux pesticides et ceux qui en contiennent le moins ? Roulement de topinambour. Notre nourriture est contaminée par au moins 183 types de résidus de pesticides. Une pollution stable, mais dont l’effet cocktail – le mélange de ces produits – est peu docum...

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...

Trump and Putin are threatening to carve up Europe between them. Suddenly, it all feels a bit 1939 | Simon Tisdall Forget the US president’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...

Trump is waging culture war on Europe by promoting rightwing allies, report finds Study finds US president seeks to interfere in elections and ‘move the ideological centre of gravity’ 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