Question

What does the IPAT formula tell us about the causes of environmental degradation? Why does the author believe that this formula is only partially accurate? What factors need to be added to improve it? Explain...

Answer 1

IPAT can be defined as an equation that that describes the factors that are responsible for the cause of environmental degradation, and this includes three of the factors such as popolation (P), affluence (A) and technology (T). This can be highlighted using an equation which is as follows-

I=P×A×T, where I refers to the impact that the above factors causes.

The higher amount of population, high abundance of affluence and higher use of technologies have always resulted in the negative effect, thereby affecting the environment.

The author here believed that the above mentioned formula is partially accurate. It is because the factor 'technology' is a non measurable factor, that does not play much efficient role in determining the environmental degration. And there are other various factors that plays an important role in controlling the environment.

Some of the factors that are necessary in order to improve the environmental degradation are as follows-

• Following the 3-R principle, namely reduce, recycle and reuse
• Afforestation must be done
• By making less consumption of fossil fuels