Natural Non-Toxic Regenerative Organic Candles which Enhance Biodiversity & Reverse Global Warming

February 09, 2020

When searching for a source of eco-friendly candles free from the environmental impacts of paraffin wax (a toxic byproduct of petroleum bad for both human and planet health), we are presented with a number seemingly 'green' option.

However,, whether the candles are touted as cruelty-free, ethical, sustainable or zero waste, it is likely, when you look at the circular story behind each ingredient from seed-to-wick, most manufactured candles are not as green as they claim to be.

When we think about our lifestyle products, we don't often think about the base ingredients which form it, yet every object we use is made from ingredients derived from the earth. 

Due to this disconnection from the natural world, exploitation of the earth and its beings remains rife. Whether it is farmers in the fields inhaling toxic chemicals and poisoning their own soil, food and water to produce monocropped GMO soybeans for the soy wax candle industry -  or the people in factories working under cruel conditions for wages which don’t come close to covering the base physiological or safety needs. Or us consumers, breathing in toxic-chemicals as we try to hygge our homes.

In truth, if every ingredient is not produced through regenerative agroecology practices, which leave the planet better off for the fact that some form of harvest for consumption has occurred, then people or planet somewhere along the line pay the true cost of its creation. 

Below, I've handpicked a few candles whose ingredients are non-toxic, and GMO-free, whose ingredients are sourced from regenerative farms, rewilding projects and regenerative gardens. Small brands, producing ethically, and with their efforts concentrated on relationships of reciprocity with the living world.  Free of waste, slavery, and pollution, and full of beautiful scents ignited through long non-toxic burns. 

REGENERATIVE ORGANIC, CLIMATE BENEFICIAL, ZERO WASTE TALLOW CANDLES

For thousands of years, tallow has been used for cooking and as the raw material for creating both candles and soap. Tallow is made from the 'waste' fat of an animal, mirroring indigenous ideologies which have existed since time immortal which show respect for life taken by honouring and utilising every part, nose-to-tail. When tallow is procured as a byproduct of regenerative organic farming, it creates a  'zero-waste' product whose ingredients enhance biodiversity and aid in carbon drawdown during cultivation and is biodegrade at the end of their lifecycle. In fact, they can even be climate beneficial.

SUMMER SOLACE 

credentials | woc-owned, regenerative, upcycled, USA grown ingredients, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, hand-poured in the USA, lead-free biodegradable wick

burn time | 40+ hours

price | from $8.00

Using organic tallow from pasture-raised cows in California, alongside organic calendula, 100% local beeswax, and organic essential oil of cedar,  Summer Solace Tallow creates beautiful candles which burn for 40 plus hours

SHOP SUMMER SOLACE TALLOW CANDLES

WHITE OAK PASTURES

credentials | regenerative, upcycled, USA grown ingredients, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, hand-poured in the USA, lead-free biodegradable wick

burn time | 40+ hours

price | $8.00

White Oak Pastures is a zero-waste regenerative agriculture farm based in the United States. Their candles are made from the tallow of holistically mob grazed beef, their own farm's beeswax, and ethical essential oils. The farm wastes nothing of the animals they rear, which sequester more carbon than they emit in their lifecycles due to the holistic planned grazing practised, a principle of indigenous agroecology. 

SHOP WHITE OAK PASTURES

REGENERATIVE ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES

Most regenerative farms and gardens who follow the practice of mob grazing, or who care for diverse annual and perennial plant crops, harvest beeswax and honey as well. Bovine and ruminant holistic grazing, as well as crop diversity, enhances biodiversity, creating a positive environment for bees and strengthening their populations, which in turn encourages more plant life through pollination. Be sure to buy from smallholder farms, as not all bees are kept with the same care. Look for 100% organic beeswax at the very least, as and larger beekeepers often don't produce responsibly.

If you can't find something online local to you, ask around at your local farmer's market following Kiss The Ground's regenerative purchasing guide HERE. Below are a collection of a few small regenerative organic beeswax candle makers I found online.

THE FUTURE KEPT

credentials | regenerative, UK grown ingredients, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-dipped

burn time | 20+ hours

price | £12.00

Handmade and hand-dipped in the UK from sustainably sourced English beeswax from London's rooftops to the moors, the future kept's candle collection is simple, scentful, and sustainable. They also sell eco-friendly beeswax birthday candles.
SHOP THE FUTURE KEPTS BEESWAX CANDLES

BROOKFIELD FARM

credentials | regenerative, Irish grown ingredients, organic, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-dipped

burn time | 40+ hours

price | €12.00

Created on the award-winning Brookfield Farm in Ireland, the hives which produce both honey and wax are harvested from bees who pollinate 3 hectares of wildflower, blackberry, tree blossom and organic clover meadows. Each candle is hand-dipped with wax from their 100% Irish farm hives on the shores of Lough Derg in County Tipperary and they sell hand-dipped dinner or birthday candles, and hand-poured candles in frosted glass.

SHOP BROOKFIELD FARM'S REGENERATIVE ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES

PIPERS FARM

credentials | regenerative, UK grown ingredients, organic, sustainable, ethical, zero-waste, nontoxic, small-batch, lead-free biodegradable wick, hand-dipped

burn time | 40+ hours

price | £6.00

Made in Alston in Cumbria, these beautiful candles are crafted by hand using the dripping method of candle making which has been essential for centuries to life in the country. The bees who create the wax are housed on a regenerative farm owned by Ted Thompson,
PIPERS FARM REGENERATIVE ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES

UNDER THE SUN HONEY
Pure beeswax harvested from the Allegheny Mountains. Organically produced beeswax candle produced through regenerative agriculture and hand-poured in small batches.

SHOP UNDER THE SUN ORGANIC BEESWAX CANDLES

** PLEASE NOTE: At present, there are no candle producers using rapeseed wax, canola wax, coconut wax, or bayberry wax who can trace their supply ingredients to a regenerative or agroecology farm. If you know if any or are a brand producing with a traceable supply chain rooted in agroecology, please email me hello@hollyrose.eco and I'll add you in.

I HAVE DISCLUDED SOY WAX BECAUSE IT IIS NOT SUSTAINABLE OR ECO-FRIENDLY

There are a number of issues with soy wax candles. First, most soy is grown on an industrial scale has a multitude of negative environmental and socio-economic impacts, including pesticide use, and deforestation. Soy wax requires intensive chemical processing to bring the soybean to oil form. First, it is turned into oil through hydrogenation, then that oil is refined and bleached and chemically distilled with hexane. Once distilled, it is bleached with chlorine, deodorized with boric acid and then hydrogenated again to be turned into wax.

IMAGES: The Future Kept

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What can we do about climate change? The answer rests in the creation of a politics of belonging

January 27, 2020

As we step into this ‘decade of climate action’, we have been reminded, through floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanos and acts of aggression, that the work of politics does not end with the General Election.

For many of us, years of concentrating on greener lifestyle shifts and ‘tactical voting’ in the outdated first-past-the-post electoral system, will have led us to the conclusion that despite our best intentions and utmost actions, each effort made is compromised by our society’s broken systems. 

Yet through this narrative, which tells us change can only be forged from the top-down or bottom-up, we have leapfrogged over what is perhaps our most powerful tool as citizens. A politics of belonging, held in our towns, boroughs and villages, where swift and impactful change can be meaningfully made through collective participation.


Throughout these islands, grassroots projects percolate with solutions to climate catastrophe and rising inequality, offering living examples of The Green Party UK’s Green New Deal in action. Each one acts as a thread, tailor-made for its community, weaving together a just transition towards carbon neutrality while enhancing community ownership of the local economy. 

The strength and longevity of these projects rely on support from their local councils. As residents, during the Local Elections on 7 May, we are offered the opportunity to aid them further. By putting people in positions of power who are not only willing to ‘declare a climate emergency’ but who are armed with a plan to transform those words into honest action. 

Though community change might seem futile at first glance, history has taught us that true transformation is the result of an accumulation of seemingly small acts which interconnect to empower revolutionary shifts first locally THEN nationally. 

Putting Greens in local seats is a genuine possibility. While voter turnout in the 2019 Local Elections hovered at just 60%, the Green Party still managed to gain nearly 200 new councillors. This rise, along with the grassroots work of Extinction Rebellion, l245 of 408 local authorities declaring a ‘climate emergency’ later that year. Half of which set targets and outlined plans to reach zero emissions in their community by 2030 or earlier. With your help, we can turn the tide for councils lagging behind, further empowering change from the roots of the system so it might spread to our collective crown. 

As Jimmy Carr said on Channel 4 during the General Elections, “[GREENS] are the only people you can vote for and know that in 50 years’ time you hadn’t made a mistake”.



All of this has inspired me and a group of online creatives working in the space of environmentalism and social justice to lend ourselves to this movement. Over the next seven weeks, we will be ‘taking over’ The Green Party’s Instagram page, to enhance education on Green Party UK policies and share examples of inspiring projects that have transformed local communities and their elected councils.

Along with amplifying the Greens’ guide for cultural and community transformation, we hope to help them raise £50K to kickstart our great transition to a greener fairer Britain.

To do so, we need 2,500 people to step forward and GIVE £20 for 2020 today (click here).

When Greens give, Greens win. And when Greens win, the planet and people prosper.

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The Most Sustainable Diet For The Planet Is Not About WHAT You Eat, It's About How What You Eat Is Cultivated

January 18, 2020

The most sustainable diet for the planet is not about WHAT you eat, but HOW what you eat is cultivated seed-to-table. 

From the sowing of seeds, to farm worker's pay and treatment, to your food's transportation, and the pollution caused along the way. It's all a question of provenance and careful cultivation.

In truth it doesn’t matter if you’re vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, or meat-eating, our entire food system is unsustainable and degenerative because it exists in the confines of capitalism. An economic system can only exist through the constant consumption of products produced through supremacy over people and planet. 

Because of this, there is a narrative in the vegan movement that is incredibly dangerous. One which deceptively promotes the perception that if a food is marketed by say, The Vegan Society, it is somehow automatically 'eco-friendly' and 'healthy' regardless of how much its ingredients poisons the earth's life systems in its cultivation.

In reality, the majority of the products marked with the vegan sunflower symbol, are as harmful to the planet and your health as any other processed food you find in the supermarket. Because no matter what diet dogma you choose, if the ingredients that make up your shopping basket are not grown regeneratively in ways which protect the soil, the biosphere and all living things above and below ground and water, they shouldn't really be marketed as 'sustainable'.

DOES APOCALYPSE COW PURPOSEFULLY DISINFORM?

This was my frustration last night as I found myself disappointed by George Monbiot’s ‘Apocalypse Cow’ documentary on Channel 4. I know George is aware of the incredible regenerative agroecology farms across the UK, as well as the scientific studies which back its food security and carbon drawdown possibilities, yet he excluded them from his coverage directly disinforming the viewer by act of emission. I suspect he did this because, on the surface, it challenges veganism's popularity and progress. 

What I had hoped, is that George would move past the battle of the diets, and focus instead on what could be done locally and nationally to help everyone #Eat4Climate.

WHY REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE IS SO IMPORTANT FOR ALL DIETS
No matter how you eat, the bulk of current land practices displaces co2 from the soil (where it creates life) and forces its migration into the atmosphere and oceans (where its overpopulation does harm).

By restoring soil with agroecology's regenerative agriculture principles (by planting cover crops and perennials, mob grazing native animals, and eliminating monocultures, GM, and tilling), we have the opportunity to transform degenerative practices to regenerative, building healthy topsoil, cultivating nutritious food, and protecting our lands from both drought and flooding, while feeding the billions of life forms below ground.

Regenerative farming increases crop productivity, water retention, nutrient uptake, and pest resistance while culling the dangerous use of synthetic fertilizer, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides which cause our planet and its inhabitants harm.

Though it does include animal husbandry and manure (which does not always mean animal slaughter), there are ‘veganic’ methods which mirror these principals, cultivating plant-based food without animal integration. This practice is 7x slower (if manure is not used) and doesn’t regenerate the biosphere as drastically, but it makes the movement more inclusive for those who wish to keep animals away from their food generation.

THE REGENERATIVE DIET: #Eat4Climate

Similarly to non-partisan movements which encourage increased voter participation, if we united under a single food sovereignty movement instead of spending our energy on arguing about what other people put inside their bodies, we could create a more powerful and inclusive system which concerns itself with conscious cultivation, leading all of us to eat in ways which respect plant, animal, human, sea and soil life in tandem.

Kiss The Ground has already created an #Eat4Climate movement, which consists of helping people find and cultivate foods which are based around locally grown, seasonal, regenerative options. Including personal cultivation in our own yards, contributing as a group to community gardens, or supporting local regenerative farmers through adopt-a-farmer programmes, or visiting farmer's markets. A diet that honours the interdependence of all forms of life across the globe while protecting cultural foods and practices.

Through regenerating our soil, this movement has the potential to contribute to the reversal of global warming, enhance health, and human relatedness, while culling eco-anxiety, climate depression and disease. Bringing us together in the name of positive progression and unity instead of dividing us on the details.

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