Blog Action Day 2009 - Clothes Drying Racks Make a Difference

Calm, quiet morning.


So today is Blog Action Day 2009 for Climate Change and Global Warming. Much is written about what you can do to take action. You know the usual drill: Change your light bulbs, change your car, change your eating, change your heating or change your cooling, change your garden or your landscape and change your laundry.

Yes that's right, your laundry. How many of you are still not hanging your clothes up to dry? I'm not an energy user expert, but by the looks of the list above, not using your dryer would make a bigger impact than many of the changes listed. People are still making up excuses: I have no room, I have no time, I don't like wrinkles, I don't like the crunchies, I don't, I don't I don't...

Enough already with the excuses. And if your final excuse is where you live won't allow it? Well, try a little civil disobedience. What's the worst that could happen?

So start using a clothes drying rack or clothesline today, like most of the rest of the world. You can do it, really. And then ask 10 friends to join you.

14 Green Things to Bring to College

Overcast, quiet and still.


With the recent list of the Top 15 Green Colleges (UNH number 2 right now, yahoo) I was reminded that my baby is soon venturing off to college. Since colleges seem to be the greenest communities right now, I think she should be prepared to show up with some pretty darn green things herself.

So, I have compiled a Checklist for College Students of 14 Green Things to Bring with you:

1 - Stainless Steel Water Bottle - You know the reason by now, right?
2 - Crank/Solar Flashlights - never need batteries again
3 - Reusable Canvas Bag - for books and shopping
4 - Organic Sheets and Blankets - No toxins, soft
5 - Safe Laundry Soap - Charlie's is concentrated, inexpensive and works
6- 100% PCW Copy Paper - that's post consumer waste
7 - Low Chemical Profile Personal Care Items
8 - Ladies! - Reusable Menstrual Cup - get over the "ick" factor
9 - Smart Strip Energy Saver
10 - Safe Mulit-Purpose Green Cleaning Product
11 - Mini Happy Light - low wattage, good for SAD
12 - Spork - you never know when you'll need one
13 - Drying Rack - using a dryer is not cool
14 - Hemp Writing Cards - just in case they might write you

These are good investments, for your child and the environment. Besides, he or she will be the coolest green college students on campus.

National Hanging Out Day - It's All About the Laundry!

Not a cloud in the sky.


National Hanging Out Day first appeared at that renegade college in Middlebury, Vermont, back on April 19th, 1995. The idea was to spur people on to hang their laundry to dry instead of using the energy guzzling dryer. That was 14 years ago. Hmm. The idea certainly hasn't transformed the country - yet.

And it's too bad really. We are headed for some pretty awful, predicted scenarios when it comes to climate change. In fact, in the last 2 weeks, those predictions are worrying scientists (real climate scientists, not side liners) - that the climate is crashing even faster than they thought. The number one way to alter the degree of crashing (the sea levels are rising) comes down to (it's more complicated but this is basic) CO2.

CO2 is mostly a by product of the energy we humans like to use. Some of it we have deemed necessary (like the refrigerator or running hospitals), but there are many areas of energy use that we don't need. Those are the areas that we can shut off today, right now - those wasteful energy users that unnecessarily add CO2 to the atmosphere. (and yes they do add up and make a difference) Like unnecessary lights, idle power and... the clothes dryer. (the dryer can use as much as 10% of the average household energy.

Some people love to hang laundry. To them it really is like hanging out. They find it meditative, relaxing and refreshing. Besides, hung dried clothing (is that okay language?) smells better and lasts longer.

Not me. I still do the "ugh" when I pull the wet clothes out to hang to dry. My laundry rack is right by my washer so it is pretty darn easy. I'm not too fussy about how it hangs. The bottom line, is it takes less than 2 minutes to hang an entire load of laundry. (no, I don't live alone and I have 3 kids)

That gets us to the current modern day excuse of time - you don't have the time to hang your clothes. Really? You don't have 2 minutes that can come from something else? So are you saying all the other people in other modern cultures who are hanging their clothes to dry have more time than we do? I think that is an insult to other modern cultures. Other people have "full" days too. Let's face it, some folks are hung up on this issue and use time as an excuse. Ouch.


Most of us don't like to feel guilty about things but guilt can be a red flag for your internal voice saying that you might be doing something you shouldn't be. Maybe you know that hanging your clothes to dry can save lots of energy..CO2... (and you money) and that for a small amount of effort (less than 2 minutes per load) it can make a huge environmental impact. But you just don't want to. So you make the time excuse and call writers and bloggers holier than thou.



Come on folks. We're all in this together. I'm not suggesting you give up your frig or burn candles at night. But I am suggesting that you really can fit in a little time to hang dry your clothing and stop using the number 2 energy hog in the house (next to the frig) and save lots of unnecessary CO2 going into our already gasping atmosphere. I am suggesting this is one of the very few lifestyle changes we can make that makes a huge difference.

So, this Sunday, April 19th, commemorate National Hanging Out Day by doing just that - hang out your laundry, have some friends over, do a cook out and ...just hang out.

Clothes Drying Racks - Build It Into Your Life

Clear and cold, but that darn brown haze on the horizon just hangs there.


So with my mind wondering back to Italy, I still have some thoughts to share. And besides, I don't want my laundry art photos to go to waste. I was so impressed with small yet important lifestyle differences in Italy, that it bares my continued blogging.

Washing clothes is one of those necessities in life, like eating and taxes. It's a daily, or at least weekly, chore that's been around as long as humans have worn clothing. And so a household has to some how accommodate washing laundry and therefore clothes drying. It was clear in Italy that clothes drying in the form of hanging it outside is the first choice for most homes.

Clothes drying lines or clothes drying racks are built into the frame work of homes, balconies and/or windows. Look closely at the above photo and you can see that the balcony railings extend and hold several lines for clothes drying. This is a real commitment to hanging your clothes out to dry, it's just what is done. Laundry isn't shamefully hung out the back of the home, it's hung right out front for the world to see. And I love it.

And if there isn't a balcony, the rigs are built into the side of the building with easy window access.

While admiring this lifestyle and the beautiful colors it adds, I can't help but be amused by the idea that some are offended by hanging clothes. You know those covenants that restrict outside clothes drying. I just don't get that. Is it the underwear? Doesn't everyone wear underwear? I think if you walk through any mall in the U.S. you're likely to walk by several stores with displays that could pass for soft porn. I find that more objectionable than the real world of undies hanging out to dry.Others must find it amusing that we even have these restrictions. I find it ridiculous. I'm all for civil disobedience in this case.

Hanging your clothes on a line or clothes drying rack really doesn't take that much time. The time is little enough to easily build it into your day, into your life. It's a commitment, a lifestyle, a pledge that will make a difference - an environmental difference for us all. Ciao!