Let it all hang out

National Hanging Out Day on April 19 10

laundry
Utahns Martha Jensen and her mom Mary hang out several times a year to raise awareness.
Photo: Martha Jensen.
Here's a great way to mark Earth Day next month. Each year, the grassroots group Project Laundry List promotes the very picturesque observance of National Hanging Out Day, both to raise awareness about the enormous energy benefits of air-drying laundry and also to draw attention to the fact that, amazingly, this practice is severely restricted in many places around the U.S., especially green ol' California, where 35,000 homeowners' associations have banned the practice.

But electric dryers are inefficient and expensive to run, so the "right to dry" is becoming a new rallying cry around the land. PLL is pushing legislation in a number of states, including its home state of New Hampshire, where the measure recently failed.

So on April 19, consider a colorful clothesline display, plus info from PLL's site to enlighten and amuse. A lot hangs in the balance, you might say.

Erik Hoffner is the coordinator of the Orion Grassroots Network which supports the work of hundreds of grassroots groups and which connects the green leaders of tomorrow with good work today via the Grassroots Jobsource. Based in Massachusetts, he is also a freelance photographer.

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  1. laundrylister's avatar

    laundrylister Posted 8:42 am
    26 Mar 2008

    Take the Million Solar Dryer PledgeYou can also sign up through our Facebook group or on our website to take the Million Solar Dryer Pledge. We want the government to keep better statistics so that we know how many Americans use a clothesline to dry 80% or more of their clothing.
    I use my clothesline 95% of the time. What do you do?

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  2. Erik Hoffner's avatar

    Erik Hoffner Posted 10:11 pm
    26 Mar 2008

    pledgeGood idea, yes, the pledge is here, I think:
    http://middlebury.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2269985114
    My wife and I dry everything (except towels and sheets) on a rack or on hangers in the house. Besides the energy savings and all, it's just better for the clothes, they last much longer.
    Erik

    The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,200+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more

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  3. karenc Posted 3:32 am
    27 Mar 2008

    Drying problem: help!I have been hanging all my clothes to dry outside in order to reduce my carbon footprint (hardest when it is cold!)... There is a clothesline behind my apartment building.  But my dark yoga clothes started getting all these white lines on them.  I thought maybe it was too much soap but it wasn't.  It seems to be lightcolored lint that the washer leaves in lines.  I was having to go over all my clothes painstakingly by hand to remove these... not worth the trouble/took forever.  Any solutions?  How to avoid these? Thanks!  Karen

    An ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk. -Vivekananda

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  4. laundrylister's avatar

    laundrylister Posted 4:52 am
    27 Mar 2008

    How-to and ClotheslinesKaren,
    They make polycoated wire clotheslines. Maybe you could replace your cotton line and get different results. Try the Cord-O-Clip which puts the clothespins on for you!
    People who don't dry their sheets and towels on the line, because crunchy is not their style should try a half cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle. Apparently, the clothes don't smell like vinegar (white, not balsamic, people!). I have not tried it out, because I find the stiff towels and sheets remind me of my youth. Did not know there was another way...
    Alexander Lee

    Executive Director

    Project Laundry List

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  5. Erik Hoffner's avatar

    Erik Hoffner Posted 8:35 am
    27 Mar 2008

    awww"People who don't dry their sheets and towels on the line, because crunchy is not their style should try a half cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle."
    Awww, so I gotta hang out near the washer so I can catch it when it goes to the rinse cycle? That sounds like WORK.
    Erik

    The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,200+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more

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  6. Biodiversivist's avatar

    Biodiversivist Posted 8:55 am
    27 Mar 2008

    My dryer is going as I sit here typingIt is dumping its heat into my house, keeping the furnace turned off and my house humidified on a cold day. However, hanging clothes outside on warm summer days sounds downright pleasant.

    In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

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  7. Kelly F Posted 10:13 am
    27 Mar 2008

    Great Northern DryerI love drying laundry on a line--and even blogged about it last year--and am looking forward to mid April when I think it will be warm enough to resume again. Had to quit for the season last November when the wet laundry was just too shivery to handle with bare fingers.

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  8. Sam Wells Posted 11:06 am
    27 Mar 2008

    It's a beachThere are many reasons why solar driers - I mean clotheslines - don't work for everybody. Home owner's associations are the worst. People sensitive to allergies can't handle it sometimes.
    But here on the beach at latitude 26 we dry all our bathing suits and towels in the shade of the porch with no problems. That saves a few loads a week right there, especially if kids or company visits. We also have a line in the garage and the bathroom, such as for the wife's clothes that would get ruined by tumbling them.
    But when the sun is strong and full, it will fade anything out there - great for whites but not the colors. Also with those super skin diving suits and thin "spring shirts" you can't leave them in the sun. So we do our drying in the shade, works fine.  -sammie

    Onward through the fog

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  9. VeganCountyFan Posted 7:45 pm
    27 Mar 2008

    Blimey!I admit to being quite shocked when I read this post.  I had no idea that dryers were so ubiquitous over there, and hanging out clothes is banned !?!  I live in the UK, and I don't know the stats (I don't think anyone has ever thought to compile them), but of all the people I know (and I know quite a few), only one person uses a dryer for personal clothes drying, and then only in the winter.  

    I know a hairdresser who has one in the salon to dry the towels and a cleaner who uses one to keep cloths and towels dry.  Everyone else either hangs out in the summer or uses maidens and radiators in the colder months.

    I think there are a couple of major reasons why we don't use dryers like you guys over the pond -

    a) they are really expensive to run

    b) we don't have room in our kitchens for another appliance

    Line dried clothes smell great, even mine and I live in a city.  There is also something vaguely satisfying about hanging out first thing on a summer's day.

    Sorry for all you who are not allowed to enjoy that, but I urge the rest of you to ditch the dryer and enjoy the freshness of clothes dried naturally.

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  10. karenc Posted 10:43 pm
    28 Mar 2008

    white linesThanks, Alexander!  However, the lines aren't from the clothesline but seem to be from lint (which dryers remove usually but washers do't?).  Maybe if I washed dark and light clothes separately, the lines will leave- I will try that next... I usually just dump everything in together.  I also have been wearing clothes more than once, which reduces laundry amounts (underwear and socks just once though!)... Dry and crunchy laundry reminds me of my childhood too... and am now having a dry and crunchy seniorhood...

    An ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk. -Vivekananda

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