All this week, we’ve been talking about a few of the ways that parents and kids can make the world a healthier, greener place. Lots of these ethics are embodied in the work of Celery Furniture, a hip, modern collection of furniture that combines great green ethics with a sleek, cool aesthetic. If you want to raise your kids to embrace TreeHugging ideals (but still look good), you could do a lot worse than this gorgeous stuff.

Built by parents, for kids, Celery Furniture [celeryfurniture.com] was born from the seemingly natural idea to produce a healthy line of furniture for the nursery that would appeal to the parents’ aesthetic and nurture a child’s need for comfort and fun. Exhibiting a timeless quality, with a nod to time-honored craft and executed from a contemporary perspective, form truly follows function on the line of modern furniture and playthings that are built to withstand years of childhood play and are green from the inside out.

Everything at Celery, from the rocking pony above to the non-rocking crib at left, is made either from (the old TreeHugger favorite) bamboo [www.sundancechannel.com] or formaldehyde-free MDF (medium density fiberboard), and finished with low-VOC paint and finishes; they are as concerned with using healthy, earth-friendly, kid-friendly materials as they are about creating really useful, thoughtful, modern design. Also included in the Lullaboo collection are things like a rocking horse (a larger version of the pony) and several cradles to go with the cribs; if you’re an adult and like their style, stay tuned for “Pause”, a line of grown-up furniture coming soon. A list of dealers can be found at their website [celeryfurniture.com].

The TreeHugger blog here at Sundance Channel completes its first month today, and during this short time, we haven’t been shy about highlighting the many virtues of bamboo. If you’re just joining us, or just want a quick refresher, read up [www.sundancechannel.com] on why we’re such fans of the über-material. Of its many implementations, though, furniture might be TreeHugger’s favorite, and some of the best comes from the designers at Modern Bamboo [www.modernbamboo.com].

Making spare use of bamboo to create chic, modern furniture, Modern Bamboo concentrates its efforts on three simple products: a chair, stool and table. All three employ the bent-plywood technique, where a sheet of flat plywood (made of bamboo, in this case) is carefully bent to create the desired shape. The technique yields a smooth, linear feel, and is a super-efficient use of materials; because entire pieces of furniture can be made with single sheets of plywood, it uses only about 1/8 (or just over 10%) of the material of traditional furniture-making techniques. Add that to bamboo’s ability to regenerate at an incredible rate, and you’ve got a pretty sustainable combination.

All bamboo isn’t created equal, though, as we noted before at TreeHugger [www.treehugger.com], and must be chosen carefully. Fortunately, Modern Bamboo uses Smith & Fong Plyboo [www.plyboo.com] for their furniture, which have high standards when it comes to using glues with negligible levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen and indoor air pollutant. If the Spring Chair, Becca Stool or Game Table (all pictured individually, as well as together in a room, above) aren’t your style, but you’re yearning for some bent-ply bamboo furniture, Modern Bamboo can still help you out. They do a good bit of custom work [www.modernbamboo.com] and are happy to chat about your vision for a beautiful piece of bamboo furniture designed specifically for your home. Learn more about their work (and try not to drool on your keyboard) at their website [www.modernbamboo.com].

I wanted to start TreeHugger’s blog here by giving a little background info on some things you’re likely to see more of: building and furniture materials; apparel textiles; home furnishings and electronics, that kind of thing. Somewhat amazingly, one material can do all of these things (and more), and it’s bamboo. Though technically a grass, and not a tree, it is extremely hard (25% harder than red oak, and 10% harder than rock maple), grows easily without pesticides and fertilizers, and, perhaps most importantly, grows extremely quickly. With some species growing a matter of feet in a day, bamboo can renew itself in three or four years, while a more traditional tree forest takes closer to 80 years.

So it’s definitely renewable, a trait we love at TreeHugger, but it is also extremely versatile. Because it’s harder than wood, it makes a great substitute for hardwood floors and are excellent cutting boards. It’s also great for things like spatulas and spoons in the kitchen; it resists water better than wood (so there’s less swelling and warping) and is heat-resistant, which cuts down on the chances of burning yourself if one gets left in a hot pan (check out the wares that Bambu [www.bambuhome.com] has to offer for examples).

Bamboo is also great for furniture; plywood boards, known as plyboo, are particularly well-suited to bending and shaping the sleek shapes and clean lines of modern furniture that TreeHugger drools over; take a peek at Project Import Export [www.projectimportexport.com] to see what we mean. But it doesn’t stop there; we’ve seen televisions and computer monitors encased in bamboo, which sure beats petroleum-based plastic, we think. Bamboo can also be spun into a very soft, anti-microbial textile that’s great for apparel, bed sheets and towels.

Like all things, bamboo is not perfect. A lot of it is grown in Asia, which means it has to be shipped halfway around the world to get to North America; the ships, trains and trucks that transport it spew greenhouse gasses all the way. As it continues to become more popular (6 million people in China work in bamboo and 600 million people worldwide rely on income from it), more forests are being cleared to grow it, and although fertilizers are not necessary, they are being used to increase yield in some cases. There is no Fair Trade certification, ensuring that the workers have appropriate working conditions and wages, so TreeHugger encourages careful research, especially before installing flooring [www.treehugger.com].

Still, there’s an awful lot to like about bamboo, and we’ll be bringing more examples of great implementations and designs over the life of the blog. Stay tuned for more ideas and examples of thinking, being and living green!