Report: R.I. lacks biocapacity

THE GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK measured the biocapacity of the states in its latest report. Rhode Island, along with Arizona and Delaware, had the least biocapacity. / COURTESY GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK
THE GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK measured the biocapacity of the states in its latest report. Rhode Island, along with Arizona and Delaware, had the least biocapacity. / COURTESY GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK

PROVIDENCE – Tuesday was the day that the United States “busted its annual ecological budget,” using more resources and services than U.S. ecosystems can regenerate within the full year, according to the Global Footprint Network.
California-based Global Footprint Network, which describes itself as an international sustainability think tank, released the report, “State of the States: A New Perspective on the Wealth of Our Nation,” detailing the ecological footprint and resource availability of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The report was created with Earth Economics in Tacoma, Wash.
Alaska, Texas and Michigan are the most resource-abundant states based on biocapacity, a measure of bioproductive land.
Rhode Island, however, is one of three states with the least biocapacity, along with Arizona and Delaware. Rhode Island also is among three states with the lowest percent of electricity generation coming from renewable energy. The others are Ohio and Delaware.
The report also found that states with the largest per-person ecological footprints are Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and states with the smallest per-person ecological footprints are New York, Idaho and Arkansas.
California, Texas and Florida have the highest ecological deficits.
According to the report, a state runs an ecological deficit when its demand for resources (ecological footprint) exceeds what nature can regenerate (biocapacity) within the state borders.
An ecological deficit is possible because states can import goods, overuse their resources (for instance by overfishing and overharvesting forests), and emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than can be absorbed by their own forests, the report said.
Alaska, South Dakota and Montana have the greatest ecological reserves. A state has an ecological reserve when its biocapacity exceeds its ecological footprint, the report said.
“As both domestic and global pressures on nature’s resources increase, it is more important than ever to manage them carefully in order to ensure the most resilient future for our country and its states,” Mathis Wackernagel, president of Global Footprint Network and co-creator of the Ecological Footprint, said in a statement. “We strongly believe it is possible to live within the means of nature, without sacrificing human well-being. But doing so requires decision-makers to make strategic investments in infrastructure and our natural capital, and set policies aimed at conserving our planet’s resources.”

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