643. Why Do Candles Still Exist?

They should have died out when the lightbulb was invented. Instead they’re a $10 billion industry. What does it mean that we still want tiny fires inside our homes? SOURCES: Tim Cooper , professor emeritus of sustainable design and consumption at Nottingham Trent University. Gökçe Günel , professor of anthropology at Rice University. Steve Horenziak , president of the National Candle Association. Meik Wiking , Danish happiness researcher, C.E.O. of the Happiness Research Institute. RESOURCES: " The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy ," by Markus Krajewski (IEEE Spectrum, 2024). " The Obsolescence Issue ," edited by Townsend Middleton, Gökçe Günel, and Ashley Carse (Limn, 2024). More and More and More , by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz (2024). " What Yankee Candle reviews can tell us about COVID ," by Manuela López Restrepo, Christopher Intagliata, Ailsa Chang, and Sacha Pfeiffer (NPR, 2022). Spaceship in the Desert , by Gökçe Günel (2019). " The Birth of Planned Obsolescence ," by Livia Gershon (JSTOR Daily, 2017). " Beeswax for the Ages ," by G. Jeffrey MacDonald (The Living Church, 2016). The Waste Makers , by Vance Packard (2011). EXTRAS: " Why Do People Still Hunt Whales? " by Freakonomics…