Unleashing Technology That Works

The purpose of technology is to do more with less. The current crises unfolding around the world, however, are the result of policies which insist we do less with more.

Tens of thousands of farmers in the Netherlands and Germany are blocking roads in protest of the government’s planned draconian reductions in nitrogen oxide, ammonia, and livestock, aimed at meeting climate change goals. The Dutch minister in charge says the rules may eliminate one-third of the country’s 50,000 farms in coming years, which is the purpose. There is a revolution in Sri Lanka, where the government’s 10-year plan to  move to 100 percent “organic” agriculture resulted in economic and social collapse within just two years. Import bans on fertilizer and pesticide, among other restrictions, devastated the production of rice and tea, its top export.