Swiss furnituremaker Vitra, introduces Dutch designer Hella Jongerius’ Polder, a couch that mimics the Netherlands’ flat landscapes, upholstered in six fabrics. Windmills not included.

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Animal Prints

It started on the runway several seasons ago when Miuccia Prada sent out some savage leopard-print cloth coats complete with fur trim. Almost every other designer has since tapped into this favorite classic—whether that means leopard-print clutches à la Roger Vivier or a full-on animal-print platform…

The typical landscape might resemble the Netherlands: a crowded, monotonous tableau in which no aspect of nature is free from human manipulation, says environmentalist D. Meadows.

The state of the environment in the latter part of the next century will be determined largely by one factor: human population. If the species doubles its numbers by 2050, to nearly 11 billion, humanity may complete the devastation that accelerated so steeply in this century. Such unabated expansion in…