Clothesline rebels
Thursday, April 22, 2010
By Megan Sweas
Comments (10)
Photo Credit: alessandraelle
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Alexander Lee and other Project Laundry List members don't believe that an energy guzzler like a clothes dryer plays any role in being a good neighbor. They're fighting for the right for all Americans to dry laundry outdoors--including those living in home-owners associations and under other covenants that forbid it. "It's about not trusting your neighbor to do the right thing," says Lee, a parishioner at Sacred Heart in Concord, New Hampshire.
A few states, including Colorado, Utah, and Florida, have laws protecting people's right to line dry their clothes, but the majority don't. Several states have introduced legislation that has failed. Homeowners association lobbyists claim clotheslines bring down property values, that sheets flapping in the breeze are unsightly and indicate someone too poor to own a dryer.
College students have been among the most enthusiastic supporters of Project Laundry List--including a group at Alleghany College of Maryland who hung out 350 pieces of underwear during the Copenhagen Climate Talks last December.
Dryers use about 6 percent of U.S. residential electrical energy--and that doesn't include gas dryers, laundromats or institutional dryers used in hotels, colleges, or hospitals. But clothesline advocates say their support for line drying is about more than saving energy. Hanging clothes out on a nice day proves a simple pleasure, clothes last longer when they avoid the dryer, and clothes dried outside have a fresh smell that can't be matched by any chemical additive.
Lee says that using clotheslines, keeping car tires properly inflated, and eating two fewer meat-based meals a week are three "low-hanging fruit" actions that are easy to take yet yield significant reductions in energy usage. He urges parishes to set a goal for clothesline pledges.
Kristen Hannum is a freelance journalist based in Denver, Colorado.
This article accompanies Our Lady of Waste Management, which appeared in the April 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 75, No. 4, pages 12-17).
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alessandraelle/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Everyone should have a clothesline
By MotherLodeBeth (not verified) on Friday, May 14, 2010If a clothesline is good enough for Martha Stewart, folks in Beverly Hills, and most European countries, many of whom could teach America something about wisdom, class, art etc.
And there is something (for lack of a better word) spiritual about doing chores, which includes hanging clothes to dry.
~Beth~
its a good thing
By Beth Pennsylvania (not verified) on Saturday, May 15, 2010There is nothing wrong with chores. Monks have been praying and working for millennia. I would rather use them as my inspiration than my favorite felon, Martha.
Line drying clothes might give them a freshness never achieved with a dryer, but having your staff do it for you ala Bev Hills or Martha's world is hardly the "spiritual" experience you are touting.
"many of whom could teach America something about wisdom, class, art etc."
Sorry I do not buy into the America bashing, particularily watching those "classy" Greeks, Spanish, etc burning people to death in banks and rioting in the streets so they can continue to retire at 50 years of age on fat pensions. THAT is not a good thing.
I'm all for clotheslines!
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010if the church sets a goal, then maybe the people opposed to it will realize that they have been judging the others who want it. Which in a small way will help save their souls. Judging others is not good. I feel everyone has a right to their opinion, but just because my opinion isn't the same as yours, doesn't make yours better than mine.
give em enough rope
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010"if the church sets a goal, then maybe the people opposed to it will realize that they have been judging the others who want it. Which in a small way will help save their souls. Judging others is not good. I feel everyone has a right to their opinion, but just because my opinion isn't the same as yours, doesn't make yours better than mine."
No it does not make it "better" than yours, only more correct.
Opinion used to be formed based on informed & educated observation and that was based on facts, and trained deduction.
Todays push for relative truth, and opinions derived from that are part of the contentiusness in our society. EVERYONE has an opinion but not every opinion is correct. Depending on the subject matter your opinion may be ill informed or lacking in basic understanding of the subject.
All men were created equal, but as we can readily observe in everyday life, not all men, though equal were given equal gifts to work with. In choosing icecream or drapes, your opinion about what should hang in your living room should weigh heavily.
In matters that involve peoples lives you should make the effort to actually find the facts that are available, and seek education on the subject so that your "opinion" is valued because it is solidily founded. Speaking on matters that you have not taken the time to learn about, only make you sound ignorant.
Gaining Heaven and Avoiding
By wsxyz (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010Gaining Heaven and Avoiding Hell are more important.
Churches have long been a
By Kai (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010Churches have long been a vehicle of social change. What could be more important than trying to fix a portion of this messed up environment that could eventually lead to the end of all people? If "God" entrusted us with "his" world that "he" worked so hard to create, doesn't it stand to reason that we humans have a responsibility to "him" to do our part and stop ruining it?
If that is based on a respect for life
By Beth Pennsylvania (not verified) on Saturday, May 15, 2010"What could be more important than trying to fix a portion of this messed up environment that could eventually lead to the end of all people?"
You would be hard pressed to find a rabid environmentalist that does not believe in birth control (by force if necessary) euthanasia, and destruction of the middle class way of life.
The reason is that they have substituted control of the environment & the power it gives them, in place of God.
Sophisticated PR is used to terrorize well meaning folks into compliance, & seize control of Churches calls for social justice, to mean their agenda which is nothing like actual justice in our society.
Know who they are & actually read their ideas rather than keep repeating fluff that is not based in fact.
Maurice Strong, that advocated you needing a license to have children, John Holdren, Cass Sunstein, George Soros etc.
God entrusted us with souls & and truth.
Not squandering the environment, is a good, not a god.
If you are right w/God the other things fall in line, & He decides the end of all people, not Gore or the environment.
The air is cleaner now than ever before. They had to invent more stringent tests to find anything to complain about. Planting more trees is not their thrust it is controlling you & your children, enslaving you for their monetary gain. Carbon trading does not clean the air, it makes it profitable for the exchange owners to trade carbon credits on algore's exchange.
clothes dry outdors, there's pleanty of sunshine for everyone
By Rita Arantes P F (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010way much better than seeing garbage, plastc bottles, plastic bags, cans , cigarrete buts, litter, dog poos, and so on, garbage bins stuffed with crap, all over the place. And all we will be doing is save energy and money. It is just one more symptom of the serious 'cancer' existing in this country, the ridiculous measures and rules ...to only keep facades, and appearances...to please who, God?
I'm all for clotheslines,
By wsxyz (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010I'm all for clotheslines, but this:
He urges parishes to set a goal for clothesline pledges.
is insane. The mission of the Church is to save souls and that is what parish priests need to be concentrating on.
Remember Dear Christian, you have but one soul to save, One God to love and serve, One eternity to expect. Death will come soon, judgement will follow, and then, Heaven or Hell forever.
I'm all for clotheslines.
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, May 12, 2010I'm all for clotheslines. And because of my support, I hope clothesliners will opt out of 'underwear protests.' By showing some courtesy, opposition will be more likely to support our cause. A clothesline full of sheets is a beautiful thing. Stained, ragged underwear is best for hanging in the bathroom.
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