The goal of creating sustainable furniture is to create items which will have little impact on the environment while creating a product that suites the needs of the consumer. For furniture, this includes everything from the materials used and even the manufacturing process. Due to environmental concerns from synthetics, many sustainable furniture manufacturers utilize natural products such as fast-growing bamboo and recycled wood products because they are renewable ("What Is Sustainable Furniture", 2013). However, there are two sides to every coin. Sustainable furniture still has an impact on the environment by utilizing fossil fuels for the necessary operations and the potential to damage the ecosystems and habitats within the forest. Native trees can be cut down to grow the sustainable varieties which disrupts the natural processes of the ecosystem. Tree farms can be treated with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers and can be genetically modified in order to grow more sustainable trees. Practices that lead to deforestation and clear-cutting, where whole forests are leveled at once and the ecosystem is demolished are not very sustainable.

Bamboo is not a tree at all, it is an incredibly fast-growing and versatile grass that has become the unofficial poster material of environmental designers and builders. The majority of bamboo comes from China and is often grown with no pesticides, however, there are some growers that do use pesticides and other chemical inputs. Bamboo also uses a lot of water because it is so fast growing, it and harvesting it too fast can deplete soil fertility ("How To Go Green: Furniture", 2013). When bamboo is grown outside of its natural habitat it disturbs that areas ecosystems and food webs and has an accelerated potential for soil erosion because of the excessive amount of care to keep the soil clear of undergrowth. Even though it