Just a suggestion, but now there are many attractive alternative "candles" that use a flickering LED light inside what appears to be a wax candle. Not sure what the candle is made of but the benifit is that it lasts a very long time, doesn't produce any by products, won't accidentally cause a fire in your home and no accidental burns or spills. I've seen these advertised in large pillar style and small votive sizes.

I wish that Umbra had elaborated on (or at least hinted at) the problems--mainly deforestation and associated loss of boidiversity--that large scale palm oil production poses.  They may be more   Both Friends of the Earth and Center for Science in the Public Interest have done research on palm oil's problems.

A dripless candle is also an energy-efficient candle. If the wax is entirely consumed... no wasted fuel.

But now for the horror that will leave everyone confused... I certainly don't know what to do...

According to the recent post, palm oil is a problem.

According to PETA, stearic acid not only comes from the meat industry, it also comes from the rendering of former pets found as strays or having died of natural causes.

According to PETA, bees are abused and have their wax essentially stolen from them.

We certainly don't want to used petroleum-based products.

How about LEDs instead? Well, does the electricity come from nuclear power plants or coal or wind turbins chopping up birds or dams blocking salmon migration?

I guess there is always whale blubber. But see the other discussion on this website regarding that matter.

Are candles, those supposedly innocent sources of light and carbon dioxide, the true horror on display during Halloween.

What are we to do?!

Beeswax makes the best, most fragrant candles. I agree with PETA on certain things, like fur and factory farming and animal testing, etc., but really if a bee keeper takes too much wax isn't he harming the overall health of the hive? It's a renewable resouce, bees are not killed by the taking of wax. If PETA is against using beeswax, then they also must be against eating honey. Of course everyone draws their own lines. Soy candles are a great choice, too.

I agree... beeswax is the way to go.

And I forgot all about soy. I'd swear we can make anything from that plant.

I'd say bees are essentially domesticated. We should, however, try to be nice to them when taking their wax... just like we should treat all other sources of materials with respect.

Hey...

What yields more wax...

An acre of soy or bees supported by an acre of flowers?

I suppose one can't really compare, since the acre of flowers, which might include an orchard, other insect habitat, aesthetic value, the actual flowers, the roots sequestering carbon, the lower energy input, et cetera provides many many additional returns beyond the beeswax.

Yes... beeswax is the way to go.

P.S., PETA should also be opposed to silk, since the caterpillars are killed before they break through the valuable cocoons and reduce the quality of the fiber.

"Just when you thought you'd seen it all"
I know it is going off on a lateral thinking tangent but a few days ago I passed a waxing studio advertising
Brazilians women/men
What on Earth does a male Brazilian look like?

What's all this then about lighten' up candles and emitting more CO2 into d'atmosphere?

We'll have to run you in for makin' green 'ouse gasses like there was no tomorrow!  (And there won't be any tomorrow, if you keep melting the glaciers with your bleedin' candles.)

--spoken by Al Gore, dressed as an eco-Bobby in Old Londontown.

PETA (and a lot of vegans) do in fact refuse to use honey, beeswax, and silk.

I think in some cases the real cause is undermined by making a big deal out of these more minor issues, since it tends to cast the whole movement as a little nutty. Also, tea without honey just doesn't cut it (of course, tea without cows' milk doesn't cut it either, which os one of the reasons I'm not vegan).  I'm opposed to killing insects, but not as opposed as I am to killing higher animals.

And as for efficiency and complete combustion--if the wick burns, and only a small amount of the wax does, you can melt it and make new candles.  So unless the dripless candle burns a whole lot longer than its drippy equivalent, it's actually less efficient.

That said, I think this sort of issue is to environmentalism as the silkworm issue is to veganism, which is to say, maybe fun to discuss but possibly not the best thing to go around talking about in public, lest people think you're a nutcase and ignore everything else you have to say.