Hanging out day
April 20, 2007 by Sharon
Apparently yesterday was national hanging out day in the US:
April 19 is National Hanging Out day, which is not about slackers but about hanging out your slacks, a celebration of the clothesline as an alternative to the dryer. Founded by clothesline activist Alexander Lee of laundrylist.org, it champions “the right to dry” which many people do not have due to building regulations and restrictive covenants prohibiting “ugly” clotheslines. Yet clothes dried on lines last longer, smell better and save you a lot of money.
There are 88 million dryers in America, and if everyone converted to lines it could reduce residential output of CO2 by 3.3%. “It’s a huge waste of energy to tumble dry your clothes,” said Tom Arnold, chief environmental officer of TerraPass. “It’s one of the simplest things to do to help with global warming.” ::New York Times
It surprises me that things are so dire in the US that using a clothes line is such a big deal. And it makes me feel quietly smug. I don’t even own a dryer. Even my daughters cloth nappies are air dried- the sun is the best sanitiser. Maybe it’s a kiwi thing.
Just to prove it, here’s a photo of my washing line with newborn baby nappies.
Unfortunately this is no longer our view, we moved back into the city 18 months ago.
