Michigan faces ecological debt

By KEVIN DUFFY
Capital News Service
LANSING — The nation hit Ecological Deficit Day recently, thanks in part to states like Michigan that use more resources than they can regenerate. A report by the California-based Global Footprint Network and the Tacoma, Washington, nonprofit group Earth Economics details resource availability and the environmental footprint of all 50 states. That footprint includes the unsustainable practices that broke Michigan’s ecological budget. It’s not just the fault of the Great Lakes State. In fact, only 16 states can boast that they use fewer resources than they renew each year.