Every year my church does Christmas wrapping at the mall as a fundraiser. All local charities are invited to participate. The mall provides the paper and supplies, and the shoppers can donate money to the charity for the wrap if they want. Every year I am asked if I will participate in this project, and every year I decline. I explain that I won’t participate because I consider wrapping paper to be evil, and to do it in Jesus’ name a sacrilege. People are usually taken aback by this declaration.
I think of wrapping paper as evil because first, trees are cut down to produce it. Trees, among their other fine qualities, are our biggest protection against global warming. Most forestry industries do not replace trees at anything close to a rate comparable to their taking.
Once the trees are cut and milled, chlorine is used to bleach the paper, adding a multitude of toxic chemicals, the organochlorines, to our waterways. Then, colored dyes are added, creating more toxins such as mercury and arsenics.
After all this wanton environmental destruction and waste of natural resources, what do we do with this precious product? We tear it up and toss it away. Most people don’t even bother to recycle. And, to further add to the disrespect for this wonderful world we’ve been given, we do all this in God’s name. God must spend her son’s birthday crying.
The worst part is, whenever I explain this to someone, they laugh and call me a scrooge.
Bah humbug.
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