{"id":1555785,"date":"2022-07-15T07:35:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T11:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1555785"},"modified":"2022-07-15T07:35:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T11:35:18","slug":"sri-lanka-crisis-shows-the-damning-consequences-of-western-elites-green-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sri-lanka-crisis-shows-the-damning-consequences-of-western-elites-green-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka Crisis Shows The Damning Consequences Of Western Elites\u2019 Green Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsri-lanka-crisis-shows-the-damning-consequences-of-western-elites-green-revolution%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1555785&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rice-e1657825438421.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Sri Lanka, a small island nation in South East Asia, is on the verge\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/sri-lanka-imposes-state-of-emergency-after-president-flees-country-11657711655\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">of total political and economic collapse<\/a>\u00a0after its president\u2019s \u201cgreen\u201d policies have brought famine to the island\u2019s 21 million people.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From the 1970s to 2020, with the help of synthetic fertilizers, Sri Lanka had become self-sufficient in rice production. However, Sri Lanka\u2019s government fell under the spell of the \u201cgreen\u201d revolution promoted by Western liberal elites. In a now-deleted\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/yournews.com\/2022\/07\/12\/2376284\/world-economic-forum-deletes-sri-lankan-pm-article-boasting-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">article<\/a>\u00a0published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to make his country \u201crich by 2025,\u201d partially by adopting WEF-sponsored \u201cclimate change\u201d initiatives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Advised by the Rockefeller Foundation, Sri Lankan President\u00a0Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to transition the nation\u2019s agriculture industry to organic farming within ten years. In April 2021, he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2022\/03\/05\/sri-lanka-organic-farming-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">banned<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthe importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and order[ed] the country\u2019s 2 million farmers to go organic,\u201d according to Foreign Policy magazine. The Western green revolutionists were so pleased that they bestowed Sri Lanka with a near-perfect Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) score of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/committeetounleashprosperity.com\/hotlines\/the-tragedy-of-sri-lanka-a-cautionary-tale-on-going-green\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">98<\/a>, much higher than the United States\u2019 score of 51.<\/p>\n<p>But Sri Lanka\u2019s adoption of green policies brought nothing but\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/committeetounleashprosperity.com\/hotlines\/the-tragedy-of-sri-lanka-a-cautionary-tale-on-going-green\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disasters<\/a>. Its rice production has dropped more than 50 percent, while domestic rice prices have increased more than 80 percent. Once sufficient in rice production, the nation has been \u201cforced to import $450 million worth of rice.\u201d In the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/1546962343308967941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">words<\/a> of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Sri Lanka is experiencing \u201ca government-created famine reminiscent of Mao.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the ban on synthetic fertilizer and pesticides also affected the nation\u2019s tea production, a primary export. Compounded by the effect of falling tourism after Covid-19 lockdowns, the nation\u2019s foreign reserves shrunk. Sri Lanka\u2019s government eventually was forced to lift its ban on fertilizer and pesticides when prices of both had reached\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalgasintel.com\/european-natural-gas-prices-surge-to-four-month-high-on-supply-squeeze-lng-recap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">historical highs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With its foreign reserves\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/sri-lanka-protests-economic-crisis-11657446163?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dwindling close to zero<\/a>, Sri Lanka\u2019s government struggled to import necessities, such as food, fertilizers, and fuels. It also has had difficulty paying back its foreign loans to finance the nation\u2019s infrastructure. Its currency value dropped, and the country defaulted on its debt obligations.<\/p>\n<p>The Sri Lankan people, angry and hungry,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/sri-lanka-imposes-state-of-emergency-after-president-flees-country-11657711655\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">staged protests and stormed<\/a>\u00a0both the president\u2019s residence and prime minister\u2019s office. President Rajapaksa\u00a0resigned and fled the country this week.<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lanka is the tip of the iceberg of how \u201cgreen\u201d policies promoted by Western liberal elites have brought miseries and instability worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Food Security Depends on Energy<\/h2>\n<p>Liberal politicians and climate activists in the West have failed to appreciate how much food security depends on oil and gas. For example, about\u00a080 percent\u00a0of synthetic fertilizers are made out of natural gas. The wide adoption of synthetic fertilizers was the main reason farmers could feed a global population of 7.9 billion while available farmlands were shrinking. Farmers also need pesticides sourced from petroleum to protect crops and control weeds, insects, and diseases.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the vital role energy plays in food security, many European countries have closed down coal plants and nuclear power generators, cut natural gas production, and banned fracking, aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/a-lesson-in-energy-masochism-europe-natural-gas-russia-vladimir-putin-11646170129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, \u201cmere 15 years ago, countries in the European Union produced more gas than Russia exported.\u201d But Europe\u2019s \u201cgreen\u201d revolution has made it vulnerable to Russia\u2019s energy and Putin\u2019s aggression. In the U.S., the Biden administration has waged a similar\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/09\/why-biden-energy-policies-have-contributed-to-surging-oil-prices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">war on fossil fuels<\/a>, including canceling the Keystone Pipeline project.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Ukraine Crisis Worsened Existing Problems<\/h2>\n<p>These wrong-headed policies had driven up the prices of all energy resources that modern farming depends on, from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/03\/30\/everyone-is-worried-about-gas-prices-but-diesel-is-driving-inflation-more-than-you-think.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">diesel<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/natural-gas-prices-surge-fresh-201516040.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">natural gas<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/11\/14\/1055068583\/gasoline-prices-gas-energy-inflation-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">petroleum<\/a>, long before Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine increased energy prices and further exasperated the global food security problem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Russia and Ukraine provide about a third of the world\u2019s wheat and barley exports. In addition, Ukraine is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/rising-food-prices-roil-developing-world-11652520782?page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">responsible for<\/a>\u00a014 percent of corn exports and about half the world\u2019s sunflower oil. Russia\u2019s invasion has disrupted Ukraine\u2019s agricultural production and halted exports as Ukrainian ports are under the Russian military\u2019s blockade. Since Russia is also one of the largest fertilizer suppliers in the world, Putin \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/news\/3812197-russia-to-temporarily-suspend-fertilizer-exports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">temporarily\u201d suspended fertilizer exports<\/a>\u00a0as a retaliation to the West-led economic sanctions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Farmers worldwide responded to rising operating costs, from energy to fertilizer, by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/strangesounds.org\/2022\/01\/the-coming-food-shortages-are-going-to-be-far-worse-than-we-are-being-told.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cutting back production<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-01-29\/surging-fertilizer-prices-set-to-exacerbate-african-food-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">using fewer fertilizers and pesticides<\/a>. The downstream effects include lower crop yield, reduced food supply, and higher prices for all food, including corn, which is also essential feed for live stock. Higher prices of corn will translate to higher prices of meat, milk, and other food products. Rising operating costs may also drive some farmers out of business. Doomberg, a financial research site with extensive reporting on the relationship between energy policies and farming,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doomberg.substack.com\/p\/farmers-on-the-brink?s=r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warns<\/a>\u00a0that farmers \u201care on the brink\u201d and \u201cwe are at the onset of a global famine of historic proportions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Warnings of Food Shortages<\/h2>\n<p>The chief economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Maximo Torero,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MaximoTorero\/status\/1505996493802676232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1505996493802676232%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffarmpolicynews.illinois.edu%2F2022%2F03%2Ffertilizer-prices-break-new-records\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tweeted<\/a>, \u201cGlobal wheat and barley prices went up 31% over the past year. In Feb, food prices were at a record high due to high demand, transportation costs &#038; port disruptions. Volatile natural gas prices sent fertilizer prices soaring. All could lead millions more to face severe hunger.\u201d Similarly, Bloomberg analyst Alexis Maxwell\u00a0called\u00a0food shortages the next \u201cslow-moving disaster\u201d that would hit the world. Even President Joe Biden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/lifestyle\/president-biden-warns-real-grocery-172618556.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warned<\/a>\u00a0Americans to prepare for food shortages and higher prices.<\/p>\n<p>Another sign that a worldwide food shortage is approaching is China\u2019s hoarding food. According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2022-01-05\/one-reason-for-rising-food-prices-chinese-hoarding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>, China will \u201chold 69% of the world\u2019s corn reserves, 60% of its rice and 51% of its wheat\u201d by mid-2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Doubling Down on Green Revolution<\/h2>\n<p>Yet, despite the looming food shortages, liberal politicians and climate activists in the West have chosen to double down on their green revolution. At its recent summit,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/news\/28062022\/nato-military-emissions-russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NATO<\/a>\u00a0integrated climate change into its statement of purpose and committed to reducing its military\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rather than developing fossil fuels at home, European nations are preparing to ration energy. Germany is sticking to its plan to shut down three remaining nuclear power plants while considering\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JavierBlas\/status\/1547180581141766144\/photo\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bringing back wood burning<\/a>\u00a0this winter. The same European countries refusing to fund oil and gas development in Africa are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2022-07-10\/europe-s-africa-gas-imports-risk-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rushing to buy natural gas from the continent<\/a>. Their hypocrisy has left millions of impoverished Africans without access to natural gas and relying on \u201cblack-market kerosene and diesel to light wood stoves and power electricity generators.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration continues its war on fossil fuels by canceling oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, essentially \u201cremoving millions of acres from possible drilling as U.S. gas prices reach record highs,\u201d the AP <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/climate-environment-alaska-gulf-of-mexico-191a0e2be4a95f703d9f52a6b5c36895\">reported<\/a>. This week, President Biden travels to Saudi Arabia to beg the Gulf State to produce more oil. At home, his administration is incentivizing farmers to produce more soybeans to make biodiesel, even though soybeans are an important <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/coexistence-soybeans-factsheet.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">food source for human and animal feed<\/a>\u00a0and there are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/cooking-oil-shortage-why-supermarkets-limiting-sales-113357665.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cooking oil shortages<\/a>\u00a0and food shortages around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The researchers at Doomberg\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doomberg.substack.com\/p\/diesel-for-dinner?s=r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a>, \u201cIn the face of a global energy crisis, the war in Ukraine, food shortages, and rampant inflation, does it make sense to be redirecting so many acres of valuable cropland to make renewable diesel, a fuel we can easily and directly drill for domestically?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From ancient Rome to today\u2019s Sri Lanka, history has taught us that revolutions erupted and regimes fell when people were hungry. The looming worldwide food crisis may not hit the U.S. as severely as other parts of the world, but we are not exempt from empty shelves and food shortages if the Biden administration\u2019s green revolution continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She&#8217;s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News.  Helen is the author of several books, including &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Confucius-Never-Said-Helen-Raleigh\/dp\/1499185278\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&#038;keywords=Helen+Raleigh+Confucius+Never+Said&#038;qid=1606079469&#038;sr=8-1\">Confucius Never Said<\/a>&#8221; and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Backlash-How-Chinas-Aggression-Backfired\/dp\/1736008501\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;qid=1606006113&#038;sr=8-1\">Backlash: How Communist China&#8217;s Aggression Has Backfired<\/a>.&#8221; Follow her on Parler and Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sri Lanka, a small island nation in South East Asia, is on the verge\u00a0of total political and economic collapse\u00a0after its president\u2019s \u201cgreen\u201d policies have brought famine to the island\u2019s 21<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1555785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1555785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1555785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1555785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1555785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}