"The present book is a synthetic outline of the most important fields of folk plastic art in Poland represented as far as possible in their historical development. The authors regard folk art as one of the essential elements of the traditional culture of Polish peasants. The first chapters of the book describe the fundamental framework of the existence of village inhabitants, namely spatial systems of settlement, types of peasants' farmsteads, the shape of the dwelling and its interior. Gradually, we learn more about the furnishings of the house and objects of everyday use, with the whole richness of their forms and decoration. Beginning with wooden equipment -- carved and painted -- through ceramic artifacts and specimens of artistic blacksmithery, the authors pass to country-made textiles and to costume, distinguishing their most important types. Further parts of the book are devoted to art which expresses directly the spiritual culture of Polish folk, namely to such fields as sculpture, painting and graphic art, and to the creative work related to native, annual rites."--Publisher's description.

The stresses associated with climate change are expected to be felt keenly as human population grows to a projected 9 billion by the middle of this century, increasing the demand for resources and supporting infrastructure. Therefore, information to assess vulnerabilities to climate change is needed to support policies and investments designed to increase resilience in human and Earth systems. There are currently many observing systems that capture elements of how climate is changing, for example, direct measurements of atmospheric and ocean temperature. Although those measurements are essential for understanding the scale and nature of climate change, they do not necessarily provide information about the impacts of climate change on humans that are especially relevant for political and economic planning and decision making. Monitoring Climate Change Impacts tackles the challenge of developing an illustrative suite of indicators, measurements (and the locations around the globe where the measurements can be applied), and metrics that are important for understanding global climate change and providing insight into environmental sustainability. Eight panels provided input on: cryosphere, land-surface and terrestrial ecosystems, hydrology and water resources, atmosphere, human health and other dimensions, oceans (both physical and biological/chemical), and natural disasters. The book also provides an illustrative set of metrics that are likely to be affected by climate change over the next 20-25 years and, when taken together, can potentially give advance warning of climate-related changes to the human and environment systems.

This volume presents reviews of geo-indicators for some major geological environments, glacial and permaforest terrains, groundwater systems, coasts, deserts, lakes, wetlands, soils, and coral reefs. Also included is an international checklist of geoindicators.