The woods we use

[DaleinOhio]

"Trees are a renewable resource."

I think someone probably said that about American bison once upon a time and look what almost happened to them.  And I would bet that people watching flocks of passenger pigeons fly over for days on end thought it impossible that they might disappear...but they did.

Yes, trees are renewable...some much faster than others.  Some won't renew in a person's lifetime.  And like others are saying on here, it's about the illegal exploitation of the ecosystems these trees grow in.  More is affected than just the trees.  Being a conservationist goes hand in hand with being a hunter...that goes for trees, not just the animals we hunt.

[JBiorn]

Take a look around your house. EVERYTHING you see has been logged, mined, or farmed.

We, as a species, are consumers. We have to consume responsibly, but we are consumers nonetheless.

I don't think that the bow industry even comes close to a percentage of the total consumption of exotic woods. Look into the furniture industry and the custom home industry. I hear talk from "environmentalists" all the time. These "environmentalists" are generally the folk who live in a house with enough lumber in it to build 3 decent homes. They always seem to have exotic wood in their chair rails, their wet bars, their murphy beds, etc.
Always willing to show off their home, yet it is evil to harvest the trees it takes to build them.
I'm all for using something different for my bow material, however then we switch from logging to mining. Where do you think the base material for fiberglass comes from? Carbon?
No matter how we slice it, we are consuming something from mother earth. As the population increases, so does the consumption.

Does the answer lie in stopping our use of these materials? No. We will always have a demand for these materials. The answer really is a proper management of the resources. Unfortunately, this isn't likely to happen in these poor third world countries. They will just sell the material to whoever will buy it.
The only way to make it quit being that way is to share the wealth a bit.

[KodiakBob]

"The only way to make it quit being that way is to share the wealth a bit." Yeah got to keep up the demand for leopard skin upholstered Bentleys and Gucci swords