World Population Growth and Resource Sustainability
Over the decades, the world population has ever been on the rise, with no sign of slowing down. According to York (14), today there is an estimated more than seven billion people as a result of the fast growth rate. This is a mind-blowing revelation bearing into consideration that, the world population was less than two billion in the year 1900, which is a little over a hundred years ago. This explosion in the world population has led to increasing concern and questions as to whether the world resources/environment is capable of sustaining the ever-growing population. Scientists all over the globe have been wondering as to whether there will be enough natural resources on the globe to support the population, as its evident that, as more people become, the higher the demand for food, energy, and water.
Factors Determining Resource Availability
Despite the growing concern over the impact of the ever-growing world population, it has been identified that the population is one of many factors that determines resource availability. Scientists over time have identified other factors such as consumer trends, type of technology in existence, and the overall health of the population as some of the additional factors determine the ability of the environment/globe to sustain the ever-growing demand of resources. This, in turn, led to the development and adoption of the IPAT model, which is a mathematical notation or a formula that was put forward describing the overall impact of human activity on the environment. Represented as (I = P × A × T) with I standing for Impact, P, Population, A, Affluence, and T, Technology, the expression is used to equate human activity to the product of other three factors which are population affluence and technology. Developed by biologist Paul Ehrlich and environmental scientist John Holdren in 1971, the equation has been used over the decades in an effort to summarize the overall human impact on a given environment (York 17).
Reducing Environmental Impact
With increasing concern on how to reduce the impact on the environment, it has been established not only population can be manipulated but a host of other interrelated factors can be adopted in an effort to reduce the overall impact. With reference to the formula, it highlighted that, environmental problems more than pollution and also they are multiple factors driven which acts together producing a compounding effect. In an effort to improve the predictive power of the model, has led towards the incorporation of different social, technical and political factors (Sustainable Development - Video4). Relating to the sustainable scale, the IPAT model helps in the identification of sustainable limits with reference to individual and composite environments. With different nations having a varying impact towards the environment, they might, in turn, focus on different factors in an effort to reduce the impact, hence the model helps in identifying different strategies towards impact reduction. For example, the poorer nations may control the impact by controlling their population, while the advanced nations, may adopting more efficient and effective technology ("Global Population Dynamics"). Nevertheless, it can be identified that opportunities exist in nations on how to make improvements on the three factors.
Human Modification of the Global Environment
Chertow (13) in his article identified that it has become an increasingly relied upon the notion that, human being have modified the overall global environment. These include the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the greenhouse gases emissions. The IPAT model holds strengths such as being a parsimonious description of important driving forces behind environmental changes (Dietz 175). More so, it identifies the precise relationship between the impacts and the identified driving forces. The IPAT model clarifies that all of the mentioned driving factors (P, A, T) they do not impact independently of the others, but changes in one factor can be countered or multiplies by a change in other factors. The important conclusion from this specification is that no one factor can solely be held responsible for the environmental impact.
Criticisms and Limitations of the IPAT Model
Despite the IPAT model greatly adopted towards the evaluation of the overall impact of human growth on the environment, the model has been identified to possess different limitations of criticism. Some of the model's criticism entails, its overall simplistic approach towards complex problems, the interdependence of the identified variables, as well as general assumptions of variables impact towards environmental impact. Lastly, the technology variable can hardly be expressed in unit, as it depends on an individual’s view of the situation (Wei 72). Additionally, the model has been known to ignore or overlook the benefits drawn from the human impact not to forget its ignorance of social and political factors impact towards the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the IPAT equation contributed to a great extent towards an understanding of the different causes of environmental impact. More so, the mathematical expression continues to be expounded as a model or methods for improving peoples understanding of the different factors that influenced the productivity and sustainability of the environment. Despite its inability to identify sustainable scale, the model has been a useful framework towards the assisting about approaches or ways of reducing environmental degradation. In summary, the IPAT equation can be regarded as a simplified way of conceptualizing the overall environmental impact of the number of human being around the globe, as they are considered as consumers. Additionally, the model reveals that in an effort to reduce the impact of the population can be attained by manipulation of technology among other interventions that affect population and affluence. However, it is evident that, these actions to reduce impact demands for participatory action towards common aspiration.
Works Cited
"Global Population Dynamics." YouTube. N.P., 2018. Web. 31 July 2018.
"Sustainable Development - Video4 - Human Impact: The IPAT Equation." YouTube. N.P., 2018. Web. 31 July 2018.
Chertow, Marian R. "The IPAT Equation and Its Variants." Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 4, no. 4, Fall2000, p. 13.
Dietz, Thomas and Eugene A. Rosa. "Effects of Population and Affluence on CO2 Emissions." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 94, no. 1, 07 Jan. 1997, p. 175.
Wei, Taoyuan. "What STIRPAT Tells about Effects of Population and Affluence on the Environment?" Ecological Economics, vol. 72, 15 Dec. 2011, pp. 70-74.
York, Richard, et al. "Bridging Environmental Science with Environmental Policy: Plasticity of Population, Affluence, and Technology." Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), vol. 83, no. 1, Mar. 2002, pp. 18-34.
