Chapter 5. Chapter 5: Environmental Economics and Consumption

What factors influence how much human actions impact the environment...

Interactive Study Guide
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Guiding Question 5.3

What factors influence how much human actions impact the environment, and how can we reduce that impact?

Why You Should Care

If calculating footprint is so important to finding sustainable choices, then we need to be able to categorize factors to make it easier to explain to other people. The most popular model for this is called I=PAT and it breaks those factors into population (P), affluence (A), and technology (T).

Since the equation multiplies the three factors together, it is easy to see that an increase in any factor will increase the I value (impact or footprint). Any decrease would then decrease the impact. This makes our decision about choices much easier because if we can broadly show that any action decreases at least one factor (keeping the others constant), then it decreases impact and should be sustainable.

Question Test Your Vocabulary

Select the appropriate term for each of the following definitions:

Term Definition
HtqAbvjklAJItvyTsOW53yXbikw8s217nIC+isPP1wHF1IKzj7ihgpl1BSAd4zXF36G3Dx54Q+jed7f3RRz1dAeyY90= A measure of how many resources are needed to support a human population.
0Ib2qB/Tx3u6VSjDQe9uwMTx8nDd+mwF+IfMv/WlXnLGzn1ppDzPmM4ysZU6Fn9qI/cVTWLVOjv3KxaiNd9Bp4nrADk= A measure of how available or abundant resources or wealth are.
+ruRpESXj54nIprHW8PA5jNehehx7QqIITukxZPchOqEOJoyBqEMVF6+/pnvCAMMrtUUghs1nOh71PCiMVT0YSfCFp8= An equation (I = P x A x T) that identifies 3 factors that increase human impact (I) directly: population size (P), affluence (A), and technology (T).
yxxZnkz7sBrY3kBAKI4JRn2nBZHZgbfWzfbq0/pMIbW/UkuH8jnlx+QYWpRJI9TZ52I0kPkYvga4aIoQLuFAbMPC9KE= Applied use of science for practical uses.
B/a6+b9fpdF2P8FLo+EFH370uv2NhTfeDdZBy4McPjd3Crf6cQGjGZlpPzgudJK3njhYivg7DFBvx6E+XdAfYkpoWnA= All the humans inhabiting a particular place (city, state, or country).
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Infographic 5.4 The IPAT Equation

Question Sequence

Question 5.1

Using the animated Infographic above, please answer the following questions

8u5mL8KrjSuF54x7wCdx+vfCeBAbLIwIGW/svfccvmFAuYySE7Y+rp+SM/E2E1lTFtCyqlTDtq8iNtcfoiGgFzgbiEr9l8qBTGTOrN7bHOuiNimbusSAnoDLuwvC7VKBClAvnS2/cmOdxe1yjEbkUb6W95fpumJCsTE3TpnC3Yzx0kmQsk4wCn55FJoKEgcmj0yDml23Ik8g+wsK7x5uxoDF5rgZ2C9bSPn69z30/T8cqA/9MGUuYXfzvCwchYaAQDfYkQj9z1U0SDefwjAeIFxjBSkMxjGGhfzDXWnZ0SGWGIoCUkh6aYF2OrtchAblFUrlpPeEeDn6lFrghiNLTeqCcNX99mOA6MhQD7e1konXEDIk+GgmHGbwg+pUPYP9pPpUOjWLw5dE65ETQcY8M6K23zWr9qnmvIsvdqfAWJVuMLJ2VMGOwRXrie0=
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Question 5.2

7oMrOLTKVy3t0EQO0lQhB7QBEm9z6nhudMjJuSeMxRJ3OwQWETvYIMziwYHyqAeyPMKOYcdSC0Ws05LJ0ek5XqL3b3rEAzxgFh22DnuFtsD6zuODfddCxQ/HVfZxJbo+7VgOMpWCrTuDaf1eRvlUX9UAoTmsqICTUM7vWQotWHmwzhAsf8p45P/h9UTt5xKVQ8I4wVyMgYleH62C4BJhIYISOiAt+X8DvvhT14GFNtosr3ItbIM/ZCs6iuT8kh66TFyWc5MnfVL2Ls6cxx7T8atZKymT7OzM5DQKFP1yyykY2DJ0xU2DJxhX2K0yPe9+n0ddM9PDCLj+HGaV+7aImMBB3OqLzmGM+jQqAPzgSI4NPHbEA3mV4wn3gafXHeGDRIsWlZ8IGXRvAMDyCDu7W3UQxPDPPBzCZ89cVwVfMyAxMX8kT4aUJ8WCSTg=
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Question 5.3

SgbnRURwpd8L+YHJV7grAZhDxwnjqJLrD5nB9q8kAaPTQgK+4x1VW2e2gDymvfbcAN6TGGrx4tB+cyzRr9Bd6v86NfIa6PqhOquw9BOdsxGswcJ21l4vKhX/cFDBKufcVG8hujBP751zZvdkLE7aVr4u88dGfk/+kylJS477bE/Kuyrzq1Svkp3MVouUra3VTVW4n6BR6EQv2q97HFHQrUhbRjzdMvsMAZdqPzdh/GeEeo2yHJdXGHZm3VCEI36lYq2JVHstWdHMhGGBPHDkZjEKYTFvagPCKcsvcO9VT6KaOgC5+LgqRV7oC3ZNOiFbcF8d/jgM+9eK+vE7FIIXawtICxiDldKZtDGJg8jR3EA6QkyLrzTXiPYOBwNBZ5WVVREF41XqkMCNGtTYJILJcUk5ZrURfgeb2po1O3ZQ3BHxU//fN9iLccHnrDI=
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