The Core of it All: From the Forest to the Concrete Jungle

Author

Ayo Andra J. Deas, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

6-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Earth & Environmental Sciences

Advisor

Karin A. Block-Cora

Committee Members

Peter M. Groffman

Elia A. Machado

Neil Pederson

Subject Categories

Africana Studies | Climate | Computer Sciences | Earth Sciences | Environmental Sciences | Forest Sciences | Geography | Indigenous Education | Other Forestry and Forest Sciences | Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Keywords

Dendrochronology, forestry, urban forestry, remote sensing, indigenous pedagogy, mathematics

Abstract

The Core of It All is a component of principle within Fasaha. The mission of Fasaha is to implement programming directed toward development of one’s Core through self-actualization. Self-Actualization is defined as bringing forth the total essential qualities of one’s own consciousness, character, and identity through positive behavior. Throughout this manuscript, principle is defined as the standard of natural essential qualities determining intrinsic consciousness, character and identity. Programming is defined as providing with intrinsic instructions for the automatic performance of a task.

Fasaha is a support service that enhances the existing organization’s service. Throughout this dissertation, it will be apparent that “principle” is continual within the Life Force and is dictated by the natural order of all things including earth, wind, fire, water, etc. The Core extends from the Universal Natural order of things and therefore, is bound to the Life Force. The Core is the spiritual essence of existence. The Forest is a large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth. The Concrete Jungle is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment.

Climate change and population growth has adversely affected ecosystems and the people that live with them. Forest ecosystems play a key role in the global carbon (C) cycle and currently sequester more than a quarter of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere each year. The capacity of forests to sequester C into the future hinges upon their response to the multitude of environmental changes confronting these ecosystems. In the northeastern U.S., forests are currently considered a net C sink, but ongoing shifts in tree species composition and changes in climate represent intrinsic and extrinsic perturbations, respectively, that can alter the magnitude of the region’s forest C sink. Elucidating the role of these perturbations in forest C dynamics is key to our ability to forecast the capacity of forests in the northeastern U.S. to continue to be a C sink. Field-based manipulation experiments have made critical contributions to our understanding of ecosystem response to global change. However, these experiments are often costly and therefore their level of replication and geographic distribution is limited. Leveraging natural gradients in microenvironment can provide a low-cost approach to understanding how ecosystems might respond to global change, but the field-based nature of these studies can still limit their spatial and temporal resolution. However, advances in satellite remote sensing makes this a solvable problem.

Recommended Citation

Deas, Ayo Andra J., "The Core of it All: From the Forest to the Concrete Jungle" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5919