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Olivier Beys

@olivierbeys.bsky.social

880 followers 460 following 400 posts

Works at EU Parliament on circular economy and green industry transition | Founder of Tournevie tool library | Fond of commons projects and Brussels | www.tournevie.be

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · Nov 23

Four simple steps on how to argue intelligently and how to criticize with kindness, by the inimitable Daniel Dennett.
It's an invaluable little gem I cannot recommend enough for anyone making an argument on online plaforms.
brainpickings.org/2014/03/28/d...

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 6m

The leitmotiv in the EU bubble is that industry including the chemicals sector is in a crisis and environmental rules should be slashed and burned. But given record exports, where is that crisis exactly? 🤔 ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/...

EU exports of chemicals reach a new record high

In 2024, EU exports of chemicals and related products to non-EU countries rose to €560 billion, a new record high. This was an increase of 7% compared with 2023 (€523 billion). The value of imports f...

ec.europa.eu

Reposted by Olivier Beys

Right to Repair Europe @r2reurope.bsky.social · 2h

🚨 1 week left until @microsoft.com ends free, automatic support for #Windows10, resulting in around 400 million PCs being unable to upgrade.

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 1d

Well, didn’t I say an occasional flight is okay? The immediate gains are to be found in reducing flights of wealthy frequent flyers who do it because they can, better infra etc of course very much pro, but as recent examples in Europe show, is hard to pull off in short run in our current context.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 1d

Some say utopian thinking is dangerous, but remember that More’s original Utopia was an imaginary world that had rid itself of huge inequality: that’s a positive outlook, and deserves praise for inspiring us. Below some good points on the importance of creative and utopian thinking 👇

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 1d

Has anyone else been dealing with some serious headline whiplash recently?

Even for those of us who follow #climate and #energy matters closely, it can be hard to know what the hell is going on!

So here's a thread to help climate communicators get a grip on how to deal with this 🧵

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 1d

Spot on. Deep down they are techno-solutionist quasi libertarians, so it comes as no big surprise. More broadly, this piece also raises this obsession with the US in its criticism of the Draghi bible. euobserver.com/eu-political...

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

In that case, it's not quite clear and would be nice hear where you are actually coming from.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

Actually priviliged people who fly around all the time underestimate how much they fly compared to most others. In fact you could have everyone take a flight a year and reduce substantially the amount of total flights. The target here are the frequent flyers, not regular people.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

Hmm don’t agree. It’s what most people have done in the past and even today, in countries like France, the majority of people don’t fly and mostly go to campings or holiday resorts in their own country or neighbouring ones à la limite.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

Slow travel is great! Less stress, more time to read, play, relax… and it frees us from the internalized need to ‘move fast enough be busy at all times’ 🎈

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

Highly revealing analysis by @davekeating.substack.com on why Von der Leyen is facing more no-confidence votes. This quote illustrates what needs to change: “While she bullies in the Berlaymont, she allows herself to be bullied by Europe’s short-sighted national leaders and the world’s strongmen”

Internationale Politik Quarterly @ipq.bsky.social · 6d

As part of our five-year anniversary, today we launched Close-Up, a profile series.

Up first: @davekeating.substack.com on Ursula von der Leyen, the notoriously controlling European Commission president, a year into her second term.

ip-quarterly.com/en/ursula-vo...

Ursula von der Leyen: Queen in the Commission, Servant in the Council

A year into her second term, the European Commission’s notoriously controlling president is attracting criticism for neutering her college of commissioners while blindly following the EU’s 27 national...

ip-quarterly.com

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

Macron should make a deal with center-left, something he could and should a long time ago.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 2d

Sure, people can still travel and there may be ways to decarbonise flight, but getting there in time and sufficient volume without cookkng the planet will be hard. Anyway, you are projecting things I never said or implied, so I will assume your response was made in bad faith.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 3d

Yet if people will not stop doing that, we won’t decarbonise sufficiently. The point is that we should develop and advocate lifestyles that are attractive on their own right. People like more free time, greenery, walkable urban areas etc. It’s also not b&w. An occasional flight is ok.

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Reposted by Olivier Beys

Bert De Vroey @bertdevroey.bsky.social · 5d

Ooit waren de Taliban zowat de belangrijkste vijand van het westen, als de antipode van onze westerse waarden en normen. Nu ondermijnen we die waarden en normen zelf steeds meer, en rekenen we daarbij op de hulp van de Taliban.
vrtnws.be/p.mRGOpLe37

Minister van Asiel en Migratie Van Bossuyt wil praten met taliban om meer Afghanen terug te kunnen sturen | VRT NWS: nieuws

Minister van Asiel en Migratie Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) wil met het Afghaanse taliban-regime praten om de terugkeer van "illegale en criminele Afghanen" mogelijk te maken. Ze noemt dat een "pragmat...

vrtnws.be

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 5d

Take note, #Brussels. Here's your periodic reminder that car dependency and car oriented infrastructure leads to car brain, in which people dissociate themselves from the problems they have caused themselves.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 5d

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 5d

Free #Palestine and #Gaza, and the passengers on the #Sumud Flotilla. Now marching to the EU Parliament in #Brussels ✊

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Reposted by Olivier Beys

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 7d

As long as the far right shapes public opinion, and mainstream parties follow public opinion, the far right dominates politics, whether in government or not.

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 7d

Please don’t give airplay to these antidemocratic goons. Feeding the troll encourages them and spreads the bile. Media outlets that purport to defend liberal democracy should know this by now, especially given what is happening all over the world.

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 13d

The race for critical raw materials is surging ahead at full speed. The EU wants to join the fray, but risks banging its head against a wall of protest, litigation and delays. Unless we address the problematic selection process for strategic projects, and update our outdated mining waste legislation

Sara Matthieu @saramatthieu.bsky.social · 13d

🚨 Industry Commissioner Séjourné set to announce new strategic projects for critical raw materials.

But doubling down on new mines will backfire hard unless he fixes the flawed and opaque selection process for strategic projects. 1/3

Reposted by Olivier Beys

Kees van der Leun @sustainable2050.bsky.social · 13d

Incredible indeed. Check it out on Google Maps: maps.app.goo.gl/A4jDtgHhfP84...

This snapshot covers at least 20 km, from North to South.

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 15d

Critics of renewables often point to land use as a reason not to invest in wind & solar. Land use IS a real issue for all energy assets incl renewables (unless on-site).

But what critics conveniently forget is the huge land impact of fossil fuels. Aerial view of fracking sites in Wickett, Texas. 👇

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 15d

MO* is een broodnodig medium. Word lid, lees MO* en bied weerwerk aan de vervlakking en verschraling van het medialandschap in ons land!

MO*Magazine @mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social · 16d

We lanceren een crowdfundingactie om ons unieke mediaproject te redden. Wij zoeken 216.000 euro
Word proMO* via mo.be/registreren
Doe een gift via mo.be/mo/gift

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 17d

Dismissing inequality is a problem , as the accumulation of wealth (& power) in the hands of the few makes it much harder to eradicate poverty. Reams of literature show this. It’s also unfair. A better question would be: how could a fairer distribution of the huge wealth increase reduce poverty?

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Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 18d

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social refers to this powerful address as a mere short speech, but it is brilliant indictment of a government captured by oligarch interests, and an example for many a progressive politician 👏

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 18d

Here's the short speech I gave in Parliament Square on Wednesday.
youtu.be/81Dnt2shYdc?...

George Monbiot DESTROYS Keir Starmer on Trump State Visit

YouTube video by Byline TV

youtu.be

Olivier Beys @olivierbeys.bsky.social · 18d

My comment was precisely about the great majority of people and certainly the poorest. Relative to the huge increases in wealth accumulation of the richest, gains of the poorest have been homeopathic. Compare the ‘relative’ elephant vs the ‘absolute’ hockeystick www.huzaifazoom.com/hickel/wid/

Global inequality from 1980 to 2016

www.huzaifazoom.com

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