On this sunny afternoon in mid-July, Thomas Goorden swaps his linen shirt for a golden work. On the program: to retype the Ardennes barn acquired by its cousin Pieter in 2019. For the first time in years, the former Belgian activist, who revealed one of the biggest European scandals of PFAS pollution, these synthetic chemicals which persist almost indefinitely in the environment, grants the right to take a big bowl of air. The height of irony, the barn of its cousin is only a few kilometers from the sixteen communes – twelve in the Ardennes and four in the Meuse – under a ban on tap water consumption due to a concentration of these so -called eternal pollutants, carcinogenic for humans and animals.
Converted into a freelance journalist since October 2024, Thomas Goorden leaves behind almost ten years of activism. Originally from Antwerp (Belgium), the 47-year-old had started by peeling the administrative publications of his hometown to influence local policy, before engaging in the Antwerp Citizen Movement Stratan-Generaal, in favor of a more participative democracy. But it was not until 2021 that its name was known outside the borders of the largest municipality in Flanders.
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