Great question!
Crude oil comes from Dead Sea weeds or dinosaurs, so you could say it's natural. Then you could convince yourself that paraffin, the sludge that is left over after refining diesel fuel, is natural. It got us to thinking maybe another way to ask the question. Rather than "is it natural", "is it a renewable source"? Paraffin, a petrochemical derivative, is not. Beeswax is, but some vegans won't use it. Soy wax is all from GMO and pesticide intensive commercial soy production. Annual soy crop tillage scares away fauna, and, as the biodiversity decreases, soy plantations depend more and more on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides. Large scale irrigation systems cause soil erosion. Heavy commercial tractors cause soil compaction. In our opinion soy wax is not a sustainable product. All soy candle wax comes from commercially farmed, genetically modified (GMO) seed. The two soy candle wax suppliers are Cargill and Archer, Midland & Daniels, both global conglomerates, like Monsanto, responsible for the commercialization of farming with pesticides.
