Super Eco

Photo credit: Annie Mole, flickr

Flicking off the lights for a romantic candlelit evening or a night of family fun and games during Earth Hour won't be much fun if you're worrying about what's burning in your candles. Between paraffin wax and lead in candle wicks, candles can cook up quite a bit of indoor air pollution. (That black soot on your ceiling? That's from petroleum in the paraffin.) Beeswax and soy candles are the healthier alternative, but how can you stock up in time for Earth Hour this weekend?

While you've probably seen plenty of soy candles where you live, local retailers may not be your best bet. Let the buyer beware: many so-called soy candles are actually mixed with paraffin. You're most likely to run into this frustrating problem with candles sold at mainstream grocery stores, hobby and crafts retailers, and shops at malls and non-specialty stores.

Your best bet to find the real thing is a visit to the nearest health food supplier. If you don't turn up anything there, the Iowa Soybean Association offers a state-by-state listing of soy candle makers, including Canada, Italy, Mexico and Norway. Homemade candles are a fairly common work-at-home handcrafted product, so check local mom's groups and do some Googling to turn up a local candle maker.

If you can't uncover any local sources, there's still time to order online.

• Harvest Lane Candle Company Unadulterated soy, as pure as it gets
• Bluecorn Naturals 100% natural beeswax and soy candles
• Beeswax Co. Beeswax candle specialists

And finally, you can always try your hand at doing it yourself. Making beeswax candles can be as simple as rolling up a prepared sheet of beeswax around a wick. Beware of artificial dyes and lead wicks in kits and prepared waxes. Even making your own soy candles is reasonably straightforward. Burn, baby, burn!