🧵I spent 50+ hours in
#trains
in past few weeks travelling to/through Belgium, Austria, Germany, France & Italy - here’s what I learned ⤵️
1. Italian trains are by far most comfortable (space, socket & food) but also most punctual, followed by French and last Deutsche Bahn ❌
💰Trains are still way too expensive. I booked tickets months in advance but compared to friends flying to same destination, I paid an average of 50 to 80% more - cost if a key factor to make rail a real alternative, probably more than time.
🚅 I saw some of the most beautiful landscapes over the past weeks that I wouldn’t experience on a plane.
Paris to Milan route specifically, going through the Alps, is breathtaking & Bologna to Rome, through Umbria & Tuscany lives rent free in my head 😍
😴 Night trains are future of long distance travel (at least in 🇪🇺).
But they need a serious make over (& women only cabins). Mine was full of eco minded convinced people but lack of amenities (sockets etc) & looks of it would deter a less convinced audience 🤦♀️
🚨 Next Tuesday 8am
#RestoreNature
20+ youth climate activists from Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, Ukraine, Italy & Poland are organising an action in front of 🇪🇺 Parliament in Strasbourg to demand strong Nature Restoration Law.
We’ll be joined by NGOs & MEPs - join us! 🔥
🔥 We need to rethink travelling to include journey as part of experience.
I met amazing people in my night train (sharing 5sqft space with strangers helps) & deciding to stop in Bologna & Milan omw to Rome allowed me to discover cities I didn’t know (& eat delicious food)
I have tears in my eyes realising what's been achieved today 🔥
At the same time, it's a bittersweet win: we're fighting like crazy to save bare minimum.
But right now, time to celebrate. Thanks to the amazing people who worked on this & in particular these fellow activists 💚
Blocking Brussels private jets terminal this morning because private jets are a disaster for climate used by the most privileged minority ❌
It’s time to
#BanPrivateJets
&
#MakeThemPay
🔥
Today, 1000 activists are blocking Two
@TotalEnergies
sites: Feluy & Liege 🔥
Demanding an end to fossil fuel and a just transition for workers and people.
We’re here to stay, because there’s simply no alternative ✊
@coderoodrouge
#CodeRougeRood
On our way to Strasbourg with a delegation of 20 youth from all around Europe to demand a strong
#RestoreNature
law 🔥 join us tomorrow at 8am in front of the EP in Strasbourg ✊
@EPPGroup
no nature = no future. And to be honest I’d really like to have a future 💚
Today is vote day for
#RestoreNature
🔥
The process is a bit complex with 2 opportunities for MEPs to reject the law: 1 at the beginning, 1 at the end. Tried to break down process but it’s still very tight and votes are changing all the time - keep putting pressure!
Shaking, 338 MEPs voted for the max to live another day while 300 rejected 🔥
Of course the law was heavily weakened in the process by the conservatives but it exists and we beat the alliance of conservatives & far right to kill the law ✊
We’ll done everyone
#RestoreNature
Après 1 journée à courir dans le parlement 🇪🇺 pour tenter de convaincre le + de députés possibles voter pour la loi de restoration de la nature, j’en appelle au leadership de
@GLBouchez
&
@prevotmaxime
: faites en sorte que vos députés européens soient du bon côté de l’histoire 🔥
Bonne semaine a tous, en particuliers aux nouveaux haters fraichement debarqués apres
#CodeRougeRood
qui ont passés leur dimanche soir a deterrer mes vieilles photos de vacances a l’étranger pour discrediter mon message 😂
Sur vous, amour, paix et energies renouvelables 💚✊🔥
🚨we only have a few hours to save
#RestoreNature
🔥
We just heard
@EPPGroup
& some
@RenewEurope
want to side with the far right & kill this essential law for our future ❌
Vote is at 12, tag EPP & Renew + individual MEPs & tell them to be on right side of history 🔥
100+ people joined the youth protest this morning in front of the European Parliament calling for an ambitious
#RestoreNature
law incl press from all around Europe and dozens of MEPs 🔥
Our message is the right one: no nature = no future, there’s simply no time to loose ✊
Fell asleep in Vienna, woke up almost in Brussels 🔥
Night trains are the future of long distance transportation and I really hope Europe speeds up development ✊
My dream? Sweden to Portugal via Brussels 😍
Action de
#CodeRouge
en cours aux aéroports de Liege & Anvers pour dénoncer les impacts du secteur de l’aviation ✊
On dénonce les 500+ arrestations d’activistes pacifiques dont la président de la ligue des droits humains ❌
Force aux activistes 🔥
@coderoodrouge
BIG NEWS 🔥
We won!
#RestoreNature
is adopted and we managed to defeat the 🤢 alliance of the far right and some conservatives. So so proud of everyone involved, wins like this are why we do what we do 💚
“In the majority world, we don’t grow what we eat - we grow what you like in the north, while starving ourselves”
@Liepollo9
talking about exploitative and extractive nature of relationships between EU/US & global south
#BeyondGrowth
Bon… ceci est arrivé 😂
Hier soir, j’ai gagné le prix
@ELLEBelgique
pour “femme de l’année” dans la catégorie société pour mon activisme 🌍.
Je ne suis absolument pas habitué à ce genre d’événement, ni à recevoir des prix mais toutes les alliances doivent être formées ✊
Commissioner for Economy
@PaoloGentiloni
gets booed
#BeyondGrowth
(rightly so) for stating “Alternative to traditional growth model can not be degrowth & Economic growth remains an essential engine for positive change” - clearly he should have attended some sessions 🤦♀️
Incroyable d’apprendre 1h avant le vote sur la cruciale loi restoration de la nature que
@MR_officiel
fait pression sur sa députée
@Frederiqueries
pour se faire remplacer lors du vote car elle est favorable à la loi contrairement à la position du MR. Ignoble 🤮
#RestoreNature
Initial proposal to reject the text was rejected, this is a first win but there’s a second opportunity at the end of the amendments voted 🔥 pressure is on
#RestoreNature
🚨
Être invité à parler à une conférence sur le train à Louvain la Neuve.
Manquer sa correspondence a ottignies parceque son train est en retard.
Manquer le début de la dite conférence sur le train comme mode de transport alternatif.
Ironie 🤦♀️
On en parle de cette violence absolue que subissent des femmes politiques belges ces derniers jours (poke
@MargauxDeRe
&
@RajaeMaouane
)?
Quand est ce qu’on est passe de “j’exprime mon désacord politique” de façon courtoise aux menaces de morts et aux injures racistes?
We are a peaceful movement simply demanding a fossil free revolution that’s rooted in joy and solidarity, who’s with us?
@coderoodrouge
#CodeRougeRood
🔥
“We can not be satisfied until the planet boundaries are respected, until our economy is organised around human needs, if our economic system is centered around capital accumulation”
@adelaidecharli2
#BeyondGrowth
L'Allemagne, l'Espagne, les Pays Bas ont annoncé leur sortie du Traité de la Charte de l'Energie 🔥
Un traité qui permet aux entreprises énergétiques d’attaquer les Etats sortant des energies fossiles 🏭
En Belgique,
@MR_officiel
et
@de_NVA
bloquent notre sortie ❌
🧵Un fil
Hey, look at me, I'm an EPP MEP celebrating the fact we just rejected a regulation that could prevent birds from being killed by pesticides in "special protection areas" 🤦♀️
#SUR
Because it's SO much fun to gamble with nature, biodiversity & our health 😉
🔴 Sensational! EU Parliament brushes Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products Regulation off the table. This means no bans on
#plantprotectionproducts
in bird sanctuaries for the time being. Farmers can be relieved for now.
#SUR
@EPPGroup
Meanwhile in 🇪🇺, analysis by
@Greenpeace
showed number of private jet flights in 2022 rose by a whopping 64% to reach a record high 572k ❌
55% were ultra short journeys (less than 750km) & their emissions exceeded annual emissions of 550,000 European 🔥
It's time to go beyond just protecting nature. Let's take action & restore nature before it's too late ⌛️
@Frederiqueries
,
@EP_Environment
, listen to citizens & vote for the Nature Restoration Law this week 🔥
Support our message here:
#RestoreNature
En 🇮🇹, Gorgia Meloni attribue les évènements actuels a une mauvaise météo.
En 🇧🇪, Georges Louis Bouchez nie le role de la prod/conso de viande dans la crise climatique.
🚨Décidément, l'inaction climatique a encore de beau jours devant elle à droite en politique... 🌍
.
@RTBFinfo
en roue libre. Au lieu de se pencher sur les enjeux structurels du climat comme la production d’énergie ou l’aménagement du territoire, la
@RTBF
préfère culpabiliser le repas populaire par excellence. Certainement pas assez « hype » selon certains bobos.
#PresidenceMR
Audience reacting to
@SDDecleve
President of
@ClubofRomeEU
“people don’t want economic growth, they want economic security. If we need growth, it’s a growth in social cohesion. The priority of the EU is huge - the equivalent of a new Marshall plan”
#BeyondGrowth
🔥
Incroyable débat
@LesNews24
sur les pneus de SUV dégonfles 🤦♀️
Chroniqueurs: “utilisez d’autres moyens d’action légaux”
Mouvement climat: a utilisé tout l’arsenal possible: marches, lobbies, pétition
Résultat: 🌍 va vers rechauffement a +2 degrés
@bensalem_nawal
@valeriesohie
Leaving Strasbourg with a win 🔥
A win for nature, climate, food security. But also a win against the alliance that’s more obvious every day between the far right & some conservatives/liberals ✊
#RestoreNature
lives. Thanks to everyone involved, NGos, MEPs but also YOU 💚
Tous les jours, je fais du 🚲 a l’heure de pointe a
#Bruxelles
.
Tous les jours, je vois des centaines de🚙 avec seulement 1 conducteur. Si on croit les statistiques, la majorite n’habite pas BXL et y vient comme navetteur-
#GoodMove
est + que necessaire 🔥
#WeLoveGoodMove
“Nous sommes fortes, nous sommes fières - et féministes et radicales et en colère » 🔥
Des milliers pour cette marche du
#8mars
. Tant de chemin parcouru et encore tant à faire - mais on ne lache rien ✊
#8MarchWomensDay
#Bruxelles
“Flights carried out by private & business jets are only a very small fraction of commercial passenger flights. Yet, they account for the most emissions per passengers in the aviation sector.”
@ScientistRebel1
@XR_Belgium
#BanPrivateJets
#MakeThemPay
This is disgusting 🤢 Just a political move months before elections based on a false narrative that
#RestoreNature
is bad for farmers.
You know what’s bad for farmers? Climate breakdown & biodiversity collapse 💀
If law is rejected, REMEMBER THIS ON JUNE 9th when you go vote❌
🚨EPP Group will vote against
#NatureRestoration
Law!
The EPP Group continues to have serious concerns about the law. “We do not want new and more forms of bureaucracy and reporting obligations for farmers. Let farmers farm” says
@SMuresan
.
Read more⬇️
Do you really
@alexanderdecroo
?
How about listening the 6000+ scientists who say reducing pesticides is essential for food security?🤔
What a win for the pesticides industry... what a loss for our future and farmers' health ❌😷
I welcome the announcement of President
@vonderleyen
to withdraw the SUR-regulation on pesticides.
Crucial we keep our farmers on board to a more sustainable future of farming, as part of our determination to get the Green Deal done.
The dialogue continues.
The work continues.
2 more days since the European Parliament votes on nature restoration law 🚨
Tomorrow, I’ll be there at 8am with a delegation of 20 FFF activists from 6 European countries to tell MEPs
#RestoreNature
🔥
Join us?
🚨 Next Tuesday 8am
#RestoreNature
20+ youth climate activists from Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, Ukraine, Italy & Poland are organising an action in front of 🇪🇺 Parliament in Strasbourg to demand strong Nature Restoration Law.
We’ll be joined by NGOs & MEPs - join us! 🔥
Action against EU
#Mercosur
today in front of
@Europarl_EN
as big conference between Europe & Mercosur countries happening today in Brussels🔥
People from Brazil, Uruguay and all over Europe calling out the colonialism and extractivism nature of the trade agreement ✊
BIG NEWS:
Despite narrative pushed by industry & guardians of growth obsessed economics, new research finds " rapid fossil fuels reduction would have minimal financial impact on vast majority of people & bulk of loss would be born mainly by the wealthy"
Excellente réponse d’
@OxfamBE
a
@VincentVQ
pour qui les femmes qui restent à la maison pour s’occuper de “leurs enfants” le font aux dépens de la société 🤦♀️
Rappel: le travail non rémunéré des femmes est ce qui permet à la société de fonctionner 🔥
EPP decided that the official group position tomorrow will be to reject the Nature Restoration Law (together w/ the ECR, ID) and to vote down the compromise deal reached in Nov. between the Parliament & EU countries (if the rejection doesn't pass).
3 hours in Milan between trains to go home allowed me to see the famous Bosco Verticale (vertical forest) 😍
Covered in 20.000 trees & perennial plants that absorb CO2, improve air quality & attract biodiversity, 2 towers are also self suffiront energy wise using solar panels 🔥
“Sufficiency is overlooked in EU policies and modelling - sufficiency policy being set of measures and daily practices that avoid demand for energy, materials, land and water while delivering human well-being for all within planetary boundaries”
@ysaheb
#BeyondGrowth
Aujourdhui, nous serons des centaines devant le Parlement UE pour demander aux pays Européens (y compris la Belgique) ne l’ayant pas encore fait de se positionner pour un moratoire sur le deep sea mining 🔥
Join us? ✊
#StopDeepSeaMining
#LookDown
Duitsland, Spanje en Nederland hebben hun uittreding uit het Energiehandvestverdrag (ECT) aangekondigd 🔥
Een verdrag dat energiebedrijven toestaat staten die stoppen met fossiele brandstoffen aan te vallen. 🏭
In België blokkeren
@MR_official
&
@de_NVA
onze uitgang ❌
🧵Draad
A ceux qui ont passé le week end à dire que l’activisme climat doit passer uniquement par les processus existants & qu’on est trop impatient.
Ca fait + 50 ans qu’on alerte, qu’on discute, qu’on demande poliment. Le résultat? ⬇️ et un monde à +2 degrés ❌
Today in Vienna, activists from all over Europe are blocking the European Gas Conference - a €5000 a ticket, behind closed doors, super secret meeting between gas and hydrogen lobbyists and decision makers to discuss new deals & future of gas ❌
@block_gas
#EndGas
At the « Beyond Growth » civil society gathering today ahead of the 3 days conference on the topic happening in the
@Europarl_EN
🔥
Time to make questioning growth and developing new narratives, pathways and policies the norm 🌍
Tips if your
#travel
involves a Brussels-Paris by
#train
. Travel to Lille first, then to Paris, it only adds 20/25 mn to your journey and you can usually pay 50€ vs 80+ with Thalys 😉
Ca fait tellement plaisir de voir
#WeLoveGoodMove
prendre de l’ampleur sur Twitter - d’habitude + le repaire des raleurs et partisants du status quo ❌
#Bruxelles
est 1 des villes les + polluees 🇪🇺, comme cycliste c’est rejouissant d’imaginer l’espace publique differement 🔥
@EUTelecoms
A mix of all - high speed for Brussels - Paris and Paris - Milan. ICE for Brussels - Frankfurt and Vienna, night train Vienna - Brussels and intercity (regional) for Bologna to Rome :)
.
@timparrique
🔥
“Whatever cost of degrowth today will be lower cost of collapse tomorrow.
Money is not the real limiting factor in this transition. Resources are. Budget in high income countries should be counted in emissions, kilowatts, materials etc.”
#BeyondGrowth
ITS A WRAP 🔥
2 days of conversations with anti poverty, climate groups on how to work together to kick fossil fuel industry’s butt & amplify people solutions - actions, conferences & testimony in
@Europarl_EN
that will lead to more. So tired but so grateful
#PeopleOverPolluters
Aujourd’hui a lieu le vote - vote qui pourrait défaire nos ambitions climatiques, prolonger la perte de la biodiversité & menacer la résilience de 🇪🇺 face aux catastrophes extrêmes si la loi n’est pas adoptée -
@GLBouchez
@prevotmaxime
que vont voter vos députés?
#RestoreNature
Après 1 journée à courir dans le parlement 🇪🇺 pour tenter de convaincre le + de députés possibles voter pour la loi de restoration de la nature, j’en appelle au leadership de
@GLBouchez
&
@prevotmaxime
: faites en sorte que vos députés européens soient du bon côté de l’histoire 🔥
🚨 Next week
@EP_Environment
will vote on Wopke Hoekstra as new EU climate commissioner.
We’re hearing some MEPs notably
@TheProgressives
are negotiating with EPP to confirm Hoekstra in exchange for deals on policy files.
100k people have already said
#NoToHoekstra4Climate
🔥
72% des émissions proviennent des voyages en avion des festivaliers et un bilan carbone probablement sous estimé.
Si on est sérieux,
#TomorrowLand
dans son modèle actuel est incompatible avec une planète viable ❌
Estimations
#Tomorrowland
: les émissions annuelles de 9300 ménages belge ou 8 fois ce que peut absorber en carbone la Forêt de Soignes pendant une année ou 2,5% de l’effort de réduction de CO2 qui est demandé à la Belgique... (sans compter les frasques des participants à
Have time to watch some tv this week end? Catch me on
@euronews
as I discuss nature restoration law, corporate due dilligence directive and voting rights at 16 for young Belgian with an MEP & a Commission official
#BrusselsMyLove
#RestoreNature
#HoldBizAccountable
🔥
Business vs planet, what comes first?
"There are no children on a dead planet! For decades political parties, including yours, have blocked climate ambitions!"
@ChloeMkljczk
"You're unrealistic in your approach!"
@ladislav_ilcic
Catch
#Brusselsmylove
all weekend on
@euronews
Best way to start the
#PowerToThePeople
conference and
@block_gas
days of action to counter the European Gas Conference 🔥
Joy is fully part of the resistance ✊
10 more years of glyphosate… Another win for farming & industrial lobbies in Europe, another loss for nature and our health ❌
Shame on countries who abstained, in 30 years, your kids will know these ecocidal decisions were motivated by profit only 🔥
Aujourd’hui, avec
@ReseauADES
& coalition de syndicalistes, on est devant
@ENGIEgroup
à Bruxelles pour
#EngiePlage
, une action pour dénoncer les 3.4 milliard qu’engie a versé à ses actionnaires pendant que des milliers ne peuvent pas payer leurs factures 🔥
#convergence
And just like that, everything we’ve been hearing/discussing at
#BeyondGrowth
make their way into real world situation… we’re NOT on the right path and Europe needs to stop self congratulating itself, we need faster, bolder policies NOW, not by 2050.
If the
#IPCC
report gave you extreme anxiety and you’re not feeling so great today, here’s another photo of my dog to cheer you up 🔥
There’s beauty, kindness and definitely cuteness on the world 💚
Yesterday,
#WalkForYourFuture
March - 30.000 in the streets of
#Brussels
, young, old, experienced activists & worried citizens. It’s easy to feel frustrated & hopeless these days but yesterday was so uplifting 💚
Now, time for
@alexanderdecroo
’s government to move WAY faster 🔥
Des milliers de personnes s’appretent a marcher pour rappeler que le climat et la protection de l’environnement est l’enjeu decisif pour l’humanite. Les leaders autochtones et
@lizwathuti
sont en tete de cortege car pas d’action sans justice climatique
#walkforyourfuture
🔥
Commencer sa journée avec une action pour rappeler à la Belgique en ce
#WorldRefugeeDay
que 7000 condamnations en justice pour faillir à ses obligations de protéger 2000 demandeurs d’asiles c’est scandaleux et inhumain👀
#BeGov
do better ✊
Climate, ecological & social crisis are systemic crises with root cause of capitalism: as long as private interests are seated at table, there won’t be a stop to social & ecological collapse - we need governments willing to kick fossil capital out
@leonor_canadas
#BeyondGrowth
BREAKING: climate envoy John Kerry says US cannot organise funds for climate loss and damage explaining that no government in the world has trillions of dollars 🧵
Off to Strasbourg where tomorrow, MEPs will vote on
#RestoreNature
final sign off 🔥
But far right has launched final bid to block the law, which scientists described as “cornerstone of food security & human health”.
Will be watching EPP votes closely 👀
Meanwhile in Spain, where 3 years of very low rainfall & high temperatures have put the country into long-term drought - entire harvests are likely to be ruined ❌
Spain has warmed 1.3 degrees since 60s, according to weather agency - imagine what 2 degrees will look like 🚨
There’s drought - and then there’s a super drought! 60% of the Spanish countryside is bone dry. Groundwater eventually runs out - then what..Wheat and barley crops are likely to fail entirely in four regions- & summer yet to come.
Aujourd’hui, je vais travailler sur une stratégie pour empêcher la nomination d’1 ancien employé de Shell au poste de « chef climat » de l’UE 🤦♀️
Voilà les batailles qu’on est encore en train de mener. En 2023. Quand le monde brûle. C’est désespérant 😩