I=PAT is the impact formula for how human behavior affects nature. ¹

Quotation | Formula | Meaning | Map | Importance | Web links | Terms | Table | Title | author sources

"The more we come to study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realize they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systematic problems, which means they are interconnected and interdependent."

"environmental concerns have become of paramount importance."

"For example, stabilizing world population will be possible only when poverty is reduced worldwide."

Fritjof Capra, (1996) , p. 3.

Quotation | Formula | Meaning | Map | Importance | Web page links | Terms | Table | Title | author sources

I = P * A * T

“The magnitude of the effects of human actions on our life-support systems and the goods and services they supply can be visualized as the products of three factors, summarized in the I = PAT identity.”

Ehrlich & Ehrlich, p. 205.

Quotation | Formula | Meaning | Map | Importance | Web page links | Terms | Table | Title | author sources

Meaning

I (impact) is the product of P X A X T

Where:

I stands for “impacts” or aggregate effects of humans on the natural capital accumulation of the biosphere in different areas and in different periods.

P is equal to population, especially population density

A is equal to affluence (per capita wealth) or income inequity &

T is equal to technology, or technological capability (electricity-use) or carbon emissions (?)

Quotation | Formula | Meaning | Map | Importance | Web page links | Terms | Table | Title | author sources

Importance

The I=PAT formula is a short-hand method or way of determining a relative means of measuring the differences in demands between very varied societies of nations, or states, or cities. It is not an accurate measure to the extent that the PQLI or Physical Quality of Life Index is a measure used by international aid organizations for understanding the social, economic and political conditions of a nation or region in relation to its neighbors and other countries.

Quotation | Formula | Meaning | Map | Importance | Web page links | Terms | Table | Title | author sources

An explanation of the IPAT formulation is at – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/ipat.html

The ABCs of impacts are:

Accounting, see – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/accounting_fo_Env_Assets.html

Biodiversity, see – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/biodiverse.html

Conservation, An essay about, see – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/conserv.html

What is being impacted? See – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/weal.htm

On the importance of choosing correct words, see – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/warwick.html

Also see – David Orr

Also see – excellent writing

Terms to know, use, and examine:

ecosystems, food webs, fragmentation, total fertility rate, population dynamics, density, PQL or the physical quality of life, feedback (both positive and negative), non-genetic information, genotype, population distribution of phenotypes, misuse of phenotypes, cultural stickiness, “rational,” norms, “fallacy of misplaced concreteness,” externalities.

The varieties of impacts or influences

	Spectrum of degrees of intrusions
Types
	or disturbs	or damages	or destroys
affects,
alters,
adjusts,

Do you have a thesis?

See here – http://myweb.rollins.edu/jsiry/ThesThem.htm

The impact formula reveals how human behavior affects, alters, or adjusts to nature.

• Capra, The Web of Life.

• Ehrlich,

• Hardin, The Ostrich Factor.

• McKibben

• Sangar

• Stephen J. Rose

Quotation | Formula | Meaning | Map | Importance | Web page links | Terms | Table | Title | author sources