The Clothes Peg- Project Laundry List's blog

Granny D Stops at 100, Her Legacy Is Eternal

2010-03-09T21:27:00.005-05:00

Project Laundry List mourns the loss of an American hero. Joining our Board of Advisors over a year ago and pledging to help make wrinkles cool again, Doris "Granny D" Haddock was a classy Victorian and frugal Yankee with the wit of Mark Twain and the bravery of a civil rights activist. Her accumulated wisdom and enduring common sense, her great charm and great love made her friend to all mankind and an inspiration to thousands.

Granny D lived in the woods between Dublin and Peterborough, New Hampshire, made famous as Our Town by Thornton Wilder. She was born January 24, 1910 in Laconia, New Hampshire and attended Emerson College before marrying James Haddock. Doris raised two children during the Great Depression and later she worked at a shoe company for twenty years.

With her husband, Jim, Doris helped stop the planned use of hydrogen bombs in Alaska in 1960, saving an Inuit fishing village at Point Hope. The couple retired in 1972, during which time Doris served on the Planning Board of her town and was active in community affairs. She nursed Jim through 10 years of Alzheimer’s disease.

After the defeat of Senator McCain and Senator Feingold's first attempt to remove unregulated "soft" money from campaigns in 1995, Doris became interested in campaign reform and led a petition movement. On January 1, 1999–at the age of 89–she began a 3,200–mile walk across the country to demonstrate her concern for the issue, walking ten miles each day for fourteen months. Doris traveled as a pilgrim, walking until given shelter, fasting until given food. With the unflagging generosity of strangers she met along the way, Doris never went without a meal or a bed. She trekked through over 1,000 miles of desert, climbed the Appalachian Range in blizzard conditions and even skied 100 miles after a historic snowfall made roadside walking impossible. When she arrived in Washington D.C., Granny D was met by 2,200 supporters representing a wide variety of reform groups. Several dozen members of Congress walked the final miles with her.

It took two more years to gain passage of the McCain/Feingold bill, during which time Doris engaged in walking fasts around the Capitol, organized rallies in many states, and held demonstrations that twice landed her in DC jails.

In 2003, Doris had her eyes on the upcoming election, and so she drove around the country on a 22,000 mile voter registration effort targeting working women and minorities. This trek was cut short in June 2004, when Doris heard that the presumed Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in NH had dropped out of the race days before the filing deadline. 94 years old and still eager to "raise a little hell," Doris surprised everyone by deciding to challenge the Republican incumbent. Her insurgent, grassroots campaign defied all expectations.

Please remove me from your list

2010-03-09T11:10:00.003-05:00

Today we received this message from some frustrated soul who had, at one point, thought she would like to receive our messages:

Please remove me from your email list. I find your militant stance on “line-drying” to be ridiculous. We are currently fighting a war, are in a recession, and only face the prospect of higher taxes, lower income (unless you are in a union or a government worker), and reduced medical coverage. How I dry my laundry and becoming an activist is a laughable past time!

This was our response:

I hear your anger and generally agree with your priorities and comments. We are pro-clothesline, not anti-dryer. We have found that many (if not most) families can save about 20% on their electric bill if they go cold turkey with the dryer and use cold water, which relates directly to your concerns about the recession and its effect on the average family.

National security and energy issues are inextricably linked, as our strategic plan indicates. In fact, the paragraph that reads, "Climate change and energy security are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future of human existence. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The U.S. Global Change Research Program, composed of 13 federal agencies, reported in 2009 that climate-related changes are already being observed in every region of the world, including the United States and its coastal waters. Among these physical changes are increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the oceans and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows" was taken almost word-for-word from the US Dept of Defense's Quadrennial Review, published last month.

Finally, as regards health care, we believe--as radical and dangerous as it may make us seem--that the increased obesity and depression in this nation can be combated in part by using our hands and bodies in light physical activity. We would be happy to share more academic references to back up this claim.

At the bottom of every message that you receive from us, you can easily remove yourself from our list. If you need me to do this for you, let me know. Sorry that you find our messages about laundry, which are meant to be fun and helpful, to be distressing and silly.

Thermodynamics of Laundry, Part II (Drying)

2010-03-05T17:19:00.003-05:00

Laundry laboratory, Margaret M. Carnegie School, Pittsburgh, PA, around 1910- 20.

Last week we wrote about how much energy is needed to wash a load of laundry. Between 0.5 kilowatt-hours and 4.25 kilowatt-hours, depending on how much hot or warm water you use. Most of the energy is needed to heat the water, so by using cold water only we can reduce the energy needed for washing by up to 90%.

The Drying Process

Drying laundry consists of evaporating the water which remains in the clothes after mechanical separation (i.e. the "spin cycle"). The process of evaporation requires 0.3 kilowatt-hours/pound of water. This is known as the "latent heat of vaporization" of water, and is the theoretical minimum amount of energy required.

If we assume a typical laundry load with 5 pounds of water that must be evaporated, then drying that laundry on an indoor line or rack would consume 5*0.3 or 1.5 kilowatt-hours of energy, which would be supplied by whatever heating system is being used in the house.

The energy required to manufacture a dryer is about the same as a washer. As we saw in the previous posting, this works out to about 0.2 kilowatt-hours per load. Dryers use between 0.45 and 0.6 kilowatt-hours per pound of water removed. To evaporate the 5 pounds of water in our typical load, this would use a total of 2.45 and 3.2 kilowatt-hours per load.

Hanging the laundry outdoors doesn't require us to supply any additional energy, so we would save 100% of the energy typically used by a dryer. Hanging it indoors saves about 50% compared to using the dryer.

Summing Up our Savings

Doing laundry consumes energy both in the washing and in the drying. Considerable savings of almost 7 kilowatt-hours per load can be obtained by using only cold water for the wash and hanging our laundry outdoors. Like getting energy for free!

Why do we post about nuclear power on Facebook?

2010-03-03T09:48:00.002-05:00

We always like it when we receive good comments about our work and priorities. Please keep them coming. One of our members just asked us to clarify why our Facebook page has posts about nuclear power. Her message and our response follow.

Her message:

I am a supporter of your organisation and an avid clothesline user. There is no dryer in my house. I believe in the order of reduce, re-use, recycle.
But I am a bit disturbed by your recent (blog and Facebook) posts on nuclear power. I feel it confuses and dilutes the right to dry campaign and will alienate some of your supporters.

I am concerned about climate change and feel that energy consumption is a big driver. But I am also a pragmatist and a scientist and I believe that nuclear power has a role to play in averting carbon dioxide driven catastrophe for our planet. I would rather build or live next to a nuclear power station than another coal-fired one.

Please explain your strategy of diversifying Project Laundry List into anti-nuclear power.

Our response:

Your concerns are serious and taken seriously here.

Whether and to what extent we continue to educate people about the dangers of nuclear power and large hydroelectric dams was/is the biggest source of contention on our board of directors. Our group had its genesis with a speech from Helen Caldicott in 1995 wherein she said, "If we all did things like hang out our clothes, we could shut down the nuclear industry." The first national hanging out day in 1998 was pulled together with the hope of educating people about the dangers of nukes and Hydro-Quebec's projects. It is our belief that we must draw real connections between the demand for electricty and the consumption of it. Truly, the best way we can avoid climate hell (my unscientfic, if not hyperbolic term) is to start driving our cars more sensibily and way less often. See http://www.pnas.org/content/106/44/18452. You need only to read about the uranium mining in the former Soviet Republics to get a glimpse of what our world might look like if we started running our cars on electricity. I encourage you to jump into the discussions and debate on our Facebook page and blog, The Clothes Peg. If that is not your style, I am happy to continue a dialogue off line (within my rather severe time constraints) so that we can each better understand one another's positions.

The choice of either coal or nuclear is a false one. On my personal Facebook page today a friend of mine who supports this new renaissance of nuclear power set up this same false choice. I hope you will read the PNAS study which I cited above and explain to me your fear that this is really the choice we face: coal or nuclear.

Alienation and dilution are serious problems that we wrestle with on many levels, but they are different issues. Let me speak to each, respectively. It is my feeling, as the founder and executive director, that a respectful presentation of a point-of-view should not, even if it does, alienate people interested in our cause. The planet will not be preserved from a nightmarish future by the weak of heart. I would rather have those willing to discuss difficult matters involved with us than a choir of like-minded "right to dry" advocates. In truth, our mission is not to make it possible for the oppressed homeowners presently disallowed from hanging out their clothes to gain a new right (maybe 10-20% of the US population), but to get the 90% who use a dryer to hang out and the 57% of people who usually use warm or hot water to wash to switch to cold. The "right to dry" is merely a wonderful way to engage the public and our legislative bodies in a much larger set of issues, pertaining to community association governance and green behavior. Failure of "right to dry" legislation allows us to keep the discussion in the public sphere; success, as in Florida, which has had a right to dry law since the 1970s, means an unenforced law that few people know about and little/no more public discussion.

My great-great aunt's husband is famous for saying, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Regarding dilution (not the solution to pollution!), we work on a number of issues tangentially related to the "right to dry," such as the accuracy and presentation of data and information from the Energy Information Administration. It is always a struggle to know when we have gone too far afield. I look forward to your response(s) and valued thoughts.

Food, not laundry?

2010-03-02T14:17:00.002-05:00

While we remain focused on laundry and the clothing care cycle, we know that most of our followers are always looking for better ways to conserve money, energy, and to emit less carbon. Today's report from Brighter Planet is eye-opening. You will learn a lot very quickly and have fun doing it.

This might mean you eat a burger or two fewer each week, but there is only one planet and...do we really only live once?

Thermodynamics of Laundry Part 1 (Washing)

2010-03-02T13:21:00.006-05:00

How much energy does doing the laundry take?

The Washing Machine

Energy is used in the manufacturing process to produce the various steel and plastic parts of a washing machine. Wattzon estimates the amount of energy required to manufacture, transport, and dispose of a washing machine at just under 6 billion joules which equals 1,600 kilowatt-hours. About the same amount of energy contained in a barrel of oil. A washing machine might last 20 years, and doing an average of 1 load of laundry per day will do 7,300 loads of laundry. Amortizing the "embodied energy" of 1,600 kilowatt-hours over the life of the machine works out to about 0.2 kilowatt-hours per laundry load.

Washing

1. Immerse clothes into a solution of water and detergent
2. Agitate them for a bit
4. Extract the dirty water mechanically
4. Rinse with more water
5. Extract the rinse water mechanically

Energy is required for each of these steps and for heating the water (if you use hot or warm setting).

A washing machine uses about 0.3 kilowatt-hours to run the motor for the entire cycle.

The energy required to heat 20 gallons of water from 60 degrees to 140 degrees is 3.75 kilowatt-hours.

So if you wash your laundry using hot water, you're using 3.75 + 0.3 + 0.2 = 4.25 kilowatt hours per load.

If you use warm water you save about 1/2 on the water heating for a total of 1.875 + 0.3 + 0.2 = 2.375 kilowatt-hours per load.

If you switch to using all cold water then the energy used per load is about 0.5 kilowatt hours. So you can save 80-90% of the energy required to wash your clothes by switching from hot or warm water to cold. We've been using cold water exclusively to do our laundry for almost 3 years and our clothes are quite clean. I haven't found any reason to use warm or hot water even with two teenage children living at home getting clothes dirty at an impressive rate.

Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Technical Report "ENERGY AND THE LAUNDRY PROCESS" by W. P. Levins, Energy Division, April 1980.

If you use a front loading washing machine the calculation is a bit different. Since these machines use 2/3 less water than top-loading machines, they are more efficient. The savings from using cold water are still quite dramatic, however, using 50-70% less energy.

So the energy required to wash and rinse a load of laundry ranges from 0.5 kilowatt hours to 4.25 kilowatt hours, depending on how much water you choose to heat up. Since the laundry gets just as clean in cold water, the excess energy used to heat up that water is truly wasted.

Next week: Thermodynamics of Laundry, Part II (Drying)

The Truth About Our (Dubious) Nuclear Future

2010-02-25T11:44:00.000-05:00

On February 16, President Obama gave a late Valentine to the nuclear industry, promising nearly $8 billion in federal loan guarantees for the Southern Company to build two new nuclear power plants in Georgia. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the numerous problems with nuclear power have suddenly been solved. Despite the Bush Administration - and now again with President Obama - pushing for a "nuclear renaissance," it has yet to materialize, outside of these two plants.

"Fourth-generation" nuclear power is another buzzword that has little success behind it. The idea is that these new reactors will close the loop for fuel and waste; that is, reprocess the spent rods into new fuel that can be reused. However, much like carbon capture and sequestration, this has yet to be done, despite over 60 years and billions of dollars in research. While some countries, like France and Japan, do reprocess fuel in a limited way, it still produces hundreds of tons of toxic waste, which could potentially be used in nuclear weapons. One French plant dumps 100 million gallons of liquid radioactive wastes into the English Channel every year, and the French government found the costs of reprocessing waste to cost $25 billion more than storing it. There is no truly closed-loop cycle; we will still have to mine uranium, a toxic process, and to contend with the spent nuclear waste, which still does not have a home despite years of wrangling on Yucca Mountain.

Fourth-generation nuclear power is no safer than existing nuclear power. In fact, it has its own unique hazards. One type of this reactor uses highly-reactive sodium coolant, which catches fire when exposed to air and explodes when it comes in contact with water. And the fuel is still radioactive. Since the fuel cycle has yet to be closed, despite attempts around the world, the American people still face the threat of spent fuel. Currently, nuclear waste is stored in 121 different sites throughout the country, and is transported through even more communities on its way to those sites.

Nuclear power is yet another financial boondoggle. The costs of these new power plants is estimated to be 26 percent higher than the already-astronomical cost of existing nuclear plants. In 2007, a Florida utility estimated the cost of building two new nuclear power plants to be over $24 billion. This cost is heavily subsidized by taxpayers through loan guarantees, subsidies, tax breaks, liability insurance (the Price-Anderson Act puts the burden of paying for any meltdowns on the US government, since no company would ever insure a nuclear plant otherwise), and higher utility bills. It's estimated that the federal government has spent nearly $500 billion on nuclear energy in the past 50 years, and private investors won't come near it. Not one penny of private investment was spent on nuclear power between 2005-2008, despite excessive government guarantees and subsidies.

Moreover, nuclear power is no solution to our immediate energy needs or to the crisis of climate change. It takes 10-20 years to build a typical nuclear power plant; the fourth-generation reactors President Obama is pushing for will take even longer for research and development. And yet our utility bills are already going up, and science tells us the window to act on climate change is shrinking rapidly. It's also unreliable: 21% of existing nuclear plants had to close entirely because of reliability issues, while 27% failed for a year or more.

If nuclear is not the solution, what is? Energy efficiency is the first place to start. We can reduce our energy use by nearly 50% with existing efficiency technologies, negating the need for nuclear power plants in the first place. Plus efficiency measures cost four to five times less than the cost of nuclear power, and energy efficiency can create hundreds of thousands of jobs right here in America. Solar, wind, advanced biofuels and low-impact hydroelectric power can make up the rest - truly renewable energy that won't continue to raise our electricity rates or contribute to global warming. If President Obama wants to make $8 billion in loan guarantees, this is the place to start.

Clothesline Economy

2010-02-24T20:26:00.002-05:00

CASSE, the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, has some new resources for promoting the transition to a sustainable economy. Please take a look at the links below, and be sure to sign the CASSE position on economic growth.

First, CASSE is about to launch a new blog called The Daly News. Each week, The Daly News will provide a thought-provoking feature essay that challenges the predominant economic paradigm and explores creative solutions to our profound economic and environmental problems. Herman Daly, the award-winning economist and incisive writer who developed the concept of the steady state economy, will kick it off on March 1. In addition to Professor Daly, the core rotation of authors at The Daly News includes Brian Czech (wildlife biologist, ecological economist, and author of Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train), Brent Blackwelder (former president of Friends of the Earth and founder of American Rivers), and Rob Dietz (environmental scientist and executive director of CASSE). You can access the blog on CASSE’s website or via RSS feed:
http://steadystate.org/learn/blog/
http://steadystate.org/feed/

Second, CASSE has an entertaining animated short called Add It Up that tells the truth about pursuing perpetual economic growth. The animation, produced by film students at the University of Southern California, is available on CASSE’s website and YouTube:
http://steadystate.org/discover/video-audio-and-presentations/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qriegoXcbQ

Third, the new version of steadystate.org is here! CASSE has an improved website with up-to-date material, revamped graphics, and user-friendly navigation.

For more information about these resources and other news about the steady state economy, please read the most recent edition of The Steady Stater newsletter:
http://steadystate.org/wp-content/uploads/SteadyStater_vol3_iss1.pdf

The Shakers and Laundry

2010-02-22T22:27:00.013-05:00

Who could imagine that a woman and a small group of her followers, a group of people who dedicated themselves to the pursuit of perfection, celibacy, and confession of sin would be much of a threat to anyone? And yet the Shakers, led by Ann Lee, were persecuted in the 18th century enough that they left England for the New World. Eventually recruiting thousands of followers, they founded 19 communal villages from Maine to Kentucky.

Mother Ann preached frugality, decency, and cleanliness. And the Shakers thrived making furniture, knitting sweaters, weaving cloth, drying herbs, growing garden seeds, and doing laundry. They embraced modern technology, even had custom-made washing machines built for them.

From the Hamilton College Library Digital Collections.

They also did a lot of ironing. Perhaps not a very energy efficient task, but likely one that was important to maintaining their decent and clean look with the woven cotton cloth that made up most of their clothing. These days I find that most of my clothes don't need ironing. Except for the occasional cotton dress shirt that does look better pressed, everything I wash comes right off the line looking great. Another benefit of the corporate move to "business casual". Here we see the Shakers working on their ironing, with clothes hanging on simple racks.

From the Hamilton College Library Digital Collections.

Finally, my one of my favorite Shaker inventions, a large closet full of moveable drying racks used in the communal laundry. You can see how the racks pull out of the closet and simply have several long thin boards on which to hang the clothes.

Library of Congress, Shaker North Family Washhouse, Mount Lebanon, NY

Do we have something in common with the Shakers?

Is Alexander Lee our modern-day Mother Ann? A charismatic leader converting thousands of people to a more efficient lifestyle? I'm pretty sure that the fact that they share the same last name is just coincidence. But there is a hint of similarity in their messages of cleanliness, decency, and frugality.

One thing I am are sure of, however, is that Project Laundry List welcomes all followers. No matter what your background is, no matter what your religious beliefs are, as long as you will wash your clothes in cold water and air dry them on a rack or line, you will be welcome.

THE ENERGY SAVING MRS PEGG'S HANDY LINE

2010-02-20T20:04:00.017-05:00

I AM A WOMAN ON A MISSION TO CONVERT THE PEOPLE IN THE U.S. TO AIR DRYING WASHING INSTEAD OF USING ELECTRIC DRYERS

My name is Patricia Roberts, I am Australian and the designer, patent holder and manufacturer of the portable outdoor/indoor Mrs Pegg's Handy Line which continues to eliminate the use of electric dryers world wide.

When I lived in an apartment in the 1980's, there was no clothesline, only an electric dryer. I have always had an aversion to tumble dryers so I looked everywhere for a product that I could place on the balcony that would be large enough to hold bed sheets. My expectations were short lived because there was nothing on the market which would suit my needs. At this time, I realized the need for a portable outdoor/indoor clothesline. I thought at the time, why use electricity to dry laundry when we have the natural resources of air and sun? Also, a portable clothesline could be placed indoors so household heating, already being paid for, could be utilized. This would also humidify the dry air which central heating causes.

Eleven years on, a close friend, Mike Marley who is a retired engineer, fine tuned my design and built my prototypes which was a huge help. I secured the product with a Patent and Registered Design and in 1995 the Company, Mrs Pegg's Products Pty Ltd was incorporated and the Handy Line launched. Since then, our product has revolutionized clothes drying, has made life easier and saved money for thousands of people who have bought them.

Coming from a secretarial background, to be sourcing nuts, bolts, aluminum, powder-coaters and fabricators was completely foreign to me, but I enoyed it and regarded the whole exercise as a learning experience. I planned to have two sizes - a large line which would take a family wash and a smaller one for more confined areas. I used bed sheets to determine the line lengths so that the large Handy Line would hold 4 king sheets and the small, 4 queen sheets. I decided to use powder coated aluminum with stainless steel fixings for the frame achieving a lightweight, weatherproof strong product.

My business began as a cottage industry and the Phoenix Society, a sheltered workshop employing over 400 people with varying degrees of disabilities, fabricated the Handy Lines for many years. I ordered all the raw material for the factory and my Husband assembled the first 600 lines. From our home office, we both took orders resulting from advertisements and editorials in the print media and dispatched the Handy Lines from our garage. After a few years, the Phoenix Society assembled and dispatched the Handy Lines which were then couriered throughout Australia. In 2005, because of the volume, we contracted a manufacturer capable of handling the rapidly increasing product numbers, but still maintaining our high standard of quality. To take the business away from the Phoenix Society was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. Their employees really enjoyed working on the Handy Lines and were so proud to see anything published on the product.

Since then, the Company has developed into a significant business and the Handy Lines are sold, not only in Australia, but also in New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US.

The idea of eliminating the use of electric dryers was the basis for developing the product. I tried to imagine the trillions of items of laundry dried in tumble dryers world-wide and thought to myself, why use electricity when we have air and sun which are cost free! There is nothing like the smell of bed sheets and towels etc that have been dried in the sun which also has a deodorising affect on the washing. Even the apartment dwellers who used electric dryers constantly, could use a Handy Line on a balcony. If not permitted to do so, how easy would it be to place the line inside and open a window or door for more airflow to dry the washing? Air drying doesn't cost a cent, is kinder to the clothes and our planet.

I realize that some countries ban clotheslines in certain areas, but if they use a portable clothesline it can be placed out of sight to dry the laundry, then easily folded for storage.

During the winter months Australians love to be able to take advantage of their household heating and because we have hot summers, they like the idea of placing the Handy Lines in the shade or undercover to protect delicates from the hot sun.

Many of us think of ideas that may help us in our daily lives, but very few design, manufacture and successfully market a product, especially one that saves energy. I have done just that and the Handy Lines have now been marketed in Australia for over 15 years with 23% - 25% of our sales being referrals from happy customers.

It is a nice feeling to know that I am making a contribution to our environment by designing and marketing the versatile, energy saving, Mrs Pegg's Handy Line which has become a household name here in Australia. We continue to innovate our product, so the journey is a long way from ending.

www.mrspeggshandyline.com

Phone: Toll-free 1-866-297-9174

The Pope and Laundry

2010-01-18T14:41:00.003-05:00

As some of you know, the Pope generates a fair amount of laundry, but I am not going to write a long piece about the clothing care of his pink, purple, black, white, red, and green vestments. Some people are very concerned about his shoes and his Santa hat, his black sweater and his white socks, but I am writing to you today to make sure that you take time to read the MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE, called IF YOU WANT TO CULTIVATE PEACE, PROTECT CREATION.

You do not need to agree with the Pope or accept the teachings of the Catholic Church to see the wisdom in many of his remarks. It is my hope that the year ahead will provide us all an opportunity to question the way we live. In particular, I want to draw attention to the fifth paragraph:

It should be evident that the ecological crisis cannot be viewed in isolation from other related questions, since it is closely linked to the notion of development itself and our understanding of man in his relationship to others and to the rest of creation. Prudence would thus dictate a profound, long-term review of our model of development, one which would take into consideration the meaning of the economy and its goals with an eye to correcting its malfunctions and misapplications. The ecological health of the planet calls for this, but it is also demanded by the cultural and moral crisis of humanity whose symptoms have for some time been evident in every part of the world.[8] Humanity needs a profound cultural renewal; it needs to rediscover those values which can serve as the solid basis for building a brighter future for all. Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are travelling together. Specifically, they call for a lifestyle marked by sobriety and solidarity, with new rules and forms of engagement, one which focuses confidently and courageously on strategies that actually work, while decisively rejecting those that have failed. Only in this way can the current crisis become an opportunity for discernment and new strategic planning.

Public Housing Transformation and the Banning of Clotheslines

2010-01-14T21:09:00.002-05:00

I am a professor at Georgia State University doing a study on public housing transformation in Atlanta. The Atlanta Housing Authority is in the final process of closing down and demolishing all of its traditional project-based public housing. Qualified residents are relocated with the help of a rental subsidy to private market housing. Although there are many criteria for qualifying one of them is the requirement of attending and "graduating from" the "Good Neighborhood Program".
In this program residents are 'taught' how to be 'good neighbors' in private rental housing.

Among other things, they are told not to hang their clothes out to dry. This is consider too "ghetto". However, this is a practice routinely done within the public housing communities. Mainly because drying in a drying costs money -- money these folks don't typically have.

While there are no local laws on the books banning clotheslines, many of the private rental market properties (mainly apartment complexes) won't allow this practice.

This creates something of a conflict. Because unlike public housing, the rental subsidized housing does not cover any utility payments. Or the utility allowance is very low (depending on family size). Typically, the rental housing apartments come equipt with washers and dryers so residents don't have to depend on coin-operated machines. However, in-home dryers end up increasing the utility cost to the residents and many of them have a take-home income of less than $1000 per month. Thus the inability to have clotheslines means that the relocated residents have higher monthly expenses and utilities is one of the largest. In Atlanta, landlords typically charges residents for water use as well.

More Time to Hang

2009-12-15T10:48:00.002-05:00

Project Laundry List wants people to have more time to hang. Haggled by Christmas consumerism? Is Facebook constantly pestering you? Does the TV suck up hours of your time? Working too many hours? or un(der)employed? The world we live in is increasingly frenetic. We work more and take less vacation than any of the nations to which we most frequently compare ourselves. We measure Gross National Product instead of Gross National Happiness. This is what the Center for Bhutan Studies has to say:

Across the world, indicators focus largely on market transactions, covering trade, monetary exchange rates, stockmarket, growth, etc. These dominant, conventional indicators, generally related to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reflect quantity of physical output of a society. GDP, along with a host of supporting indicators, is the most widely used indicator. Yet GDP is heavily biased towards increased production and consumption, regardless of the necessity or desirability of such outputs, at the expense of other more holistic criterion. It is biased against conservation since it does not register conservation or stocks.

Indicators determine policies. The almost universal use of GDP-based indicators to measure progress has helped justify policies around the world that are based on rapid material progress at the expense of environmental preservation, cultures, and community cohesion.

While Project Laundry List is not advocating for a monarchy, we do think it is our national mission to pursue happiness. (Thank you, Thomas Jefferson, for corrupting Adam Smith's "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property" into the more humane words we all know.)

We want to know what you think...

Hanging in the Winter Wonderland

2009-12-11T22:28:00.009-05:00

The halcyon days of hanging laundry outside in the hot summer sunshine are over. Watching clothes flap in the warm breeze are a distant memory. Bringing in sun-dried sheets smelling of the sweet spring air are long gone. Winter has now settled in quite deeply over most of the country. Dark, damp, snowy, dank, cold, freezing and icy conditions are really not ideal for outdoor drying, so it is time for year-round clothesline/drying rack users to get a little more inventive!

I live in the Pacific Northwest where winters usually consist of dark, damp, rainy, gray days. Indoor drying is a must for me, as any attempts to line-dry are futile. The laundry ends up being just as damp after a day spent drying outside as when I first hung it, so why bother? For winter indoor drying, I have three drying racks that I usually fill, the overflow goes to the shower rod, backs of chairs and lamp posts. Stuff dries in about a day, two if it's really humid out. I'm accustomed to it now, but it does take a bit of getting used to when laundry is hanging all over the house.

This past week has been quite unusual, weather-wise, in Seattle. We have had frigid record-setting low temperatures, low humidity and absolutely clear skies. Very weird for us! I decided that I wanted to take this rare opportunity to try drying the sheets outside on the clothesline. So on an 18 degree F. morning, I hung 2 sets of sheets out on the line (absolutely freezing my fingers in the process). Winter hanging is not for the faint of heart.

I had always heard stories from my mom and grandma about hanging laundry in the dead of winter on the North Dakota prairie. I was always fascinated to hear about the laundry freezing on the line, but drying quite quickly once it was brought inside. I had never done it myself, so now was my window of opportunity to try it.

It was almost comical to see the sheets freeze almost instantly into a solid board. Any breeze would blow them around straight as could be. I left them out for several hours, until the sun started going down. When I went to get them off, they were actually frozen to the clothesline! I peeled them off, amazed at how much drying actually took place. After bringing them inside I draped them over drying racks where they finished drying quite quickly. They were really soft and had a pungent wintery ozone smell. Overall, a satisfying experience.

I doubt if I will have any more opportunities for outdoor sheet drying this winter; the more typical rain/snow is now on it's way in. Back to total indoor drying. But it's good to be experimental in different weather conditions. Just makes laundry day a bit more fun!

-Marilyn Huttunen

Learn more line drying in winter.

Model Resolution for Right to Dry legislation

2009-12-01T10:30:00.004-05:00

Since we generally find that the nicest people in our country come from Minnesota and they have earned that reputation, we hereby offer this model resolution as though a member of the Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party wanted to change the world. We crib generously from the Florida "right to dry" law or solar rights bill that passed a few decades ago.

Whereas, there are three major intersecting crises of climate change, energy security, and personal finance that effect all Minnesotans,

Whereas, dryers use at least 6% of all residential electricity in this nation,

Whereas, the myth of modernity that we will be freed from the drudgery of housework if only we buy the latest appliance, spend money to maintain and run it, and then replace it periodically has proven a detriment to the pursuit of happiness,

Whereas, this is the land of the free and there are overwhelming public policy reasons to allow clotheslines to proliferate,

Resolved, that Minnesota should join the other states which make it possible for more people to hang out their clothes in the sun,

Resolved, Minnesotans should act to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by encouraging the development and use of renewable resources in order to conserve and protect the value of land, buildings, and resources by preventing the adoption of measures which will have the ultimate effect, however unintended, of driving the costs of owning and operating commercial or residential property beyond the capacity of private owners to maintain,

Resolved, the adoption of an ordinance by a governing body which prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting the installation of solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources is expressly prohibited,

Resolved, a deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or similar binding agreement may not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting solar collectors, clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources from being installed on buildings erected on the lots or parcels covered by the deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or binding agreement. A property owner may not be denied permission to install solar collectors or other energy devices by any entity granted the power or right in any deed restriction, covenant, declaration, or similar binding agreement to approve, forbid, control, or direct alteration of property with respect to residential dwellings and within the boundaries of a condominium unit. Such entity may determine the specific location where solar collectors may be installed on the roof within an orientation to the south or within 45° east or west of due south if such determination does not impair the effective operation of the solar collectors.

HideYourClothesline

2009-11-19T12:58:00.003-05:00

I’m of the opinion that clothesline wars can be resolved with ingenuity rather than legislation.

Opponents to clotheslines don’t want to see their neighbor’s underwear. They also don’t want to see what they consider to be disorderly. These objections are within our reach to remedy at a low cost.

The simple objective is to:

A. Hide the clothes

B. Be orderly

Americans have been solving this kind of problem for centuries. Just look at some listings in the yellow pages: bins, boxes, cabinets, canopies, curtains, cubicles, doors, enclosed trailers, fences, lockers, safes, shades, sheds, storage units, tarps, window-tinting. We even have magicians who hide elephants for a living.

We are absolutely professionals at hiding stuff. Can anyone tell me what is in the average woman’s handbag? Would she want everybody to see what’s inside? Definitely not! Ask Elaine from Seinfeld! That is precisely why there are no transparent handbags on the market.

Therefore, if we have the technology to hide feminine products right on the table of a five-star restaurant, then keeping underwear from our neighbor’s line of sight ought to be child’s play! We need to stop thinking in terms of laws and started thinking in terms of ingenuity.

Oftentimes, whenever we need a solution, we can find it online. Imagine this:

------------------------------------------------------------------

HideYourClothesline.com

Welcome to our website!

Hide your clothesline in broad daylight!

Keeping clothesline neighbors happy since 2009!

------------------------------------------------------------------

In conclusion, if electric utilities are willing to explore expensive offshore placement of their windmills for the sake of aesthetics, then an inexpensive innovation to hide your underwear is a small price to pay to allow you to have a clothesline. I’ve written previous blogs offering ideas how to hide a clothesline. Perhaps somebody has a better way.

A Drying Canopy Proposal

2009-11-19T11:45:00.003-05:00

Today’s article from Perkasie, PA titled “U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry” has caught my attention.

There are two sides to every story.

Story A: “We use a clothesline to save energy.”

Story B: “We don’t want to see our neighbor’s underwear.”

Both stories are reasonable; so let’s find a way to satisfy both. Instead of having laws, either for or against something, where we end up with gloating winners and bitter losers, let’s use our Yankee ingenuity so everybody can win.

Suppose we manufacture a drying canopy. (See figure) Special, breathable sides act as a privacy screen so a person can hang as many Fruit of the Looms as they want. Meanwhile, all your neighbors see is a tidy canopy.

The sides on the canopy would let the air pass through and the roof would make it so that rain is no longer a factor.

Here’s how VISA would lay out the compromise:

~~Clothesline: $25~~

~~Electric Drier: $500~~

Drying Canopy: $150

Ending Clothesline Wars: Priceless

Doing The Laundry With Martha

2009-11-13T21:23:00.004-05:00

I am an unabashed fan of Martha Stewart, have been for years. Maybe because we both grew up in large families of six kids, with practical hardworking parents. Or maybe because I appreciate all the hands-on housekeeping things she does and promotes, all done with a sense of beauty and class. In any event, I love most everything she does.

I was reading Martha's "30 Things Everyone Should Know" on her website. Of course, being the avid laundress I am, I was interested in her "Do The Laundry" piece:

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/do-the-laundry

Overall, I feel she gives very good advice and clear instructions. What I find encouraging is her emphasis on air-drying "the old fashioned way". Over the years I have noticed that she is an enthusiastic hang-dryer, talking about it on many shows. Of course, she uses an electric dryer too, but I like how she gives clotheslines and drying racks equal billing.

What bothers me a little...okay, a lot, is her insistence on using hot water to wash whites. I must admit that I was always under the impression that hot water was the only way to wash whites. But I have seen the error of my ways from Project Laundry List, and now wash everything in cold. Yes, Martha, even whites! There is no difference in the whiteness, and they seem to get just as clean as washing in hot. I see no reason to waste hot water energy when it can be done just as efficiently in cold water.

Perhaps cold water washing could be "The 31st Thing Everyone Should Know"... right, Martha?!

Marilyn Huttunen

350 Day of Action

2009-10-17T20:28:00.001-04:00

Una giornata particolare - Video terrazza

2009-10-12T17:04:00.001-04:00

This is one of the most beautiful scene's with laundry from the movies, according to Project Laundry List supporter Virginia Jewiss. We hope you enjoy it.

Tao Te Ching

2009-10-03T18:23:00.004-04:00

I am just back from San Francisco after three weeks of traveling and ran into a man, on my last night, who teaches Indian singing and instrumentation. He shared with me these wise words from the Tao Te Ching:

"A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving" (27)

OR (a different translation)

"The skillful traveler leaves no traces of his wheels or
footsteps" (27)

Then there is:

"Without stirring abroad
One can know the whole world...
Therefor the sage knows without having to stir." (47)

Finally, there is

"If a country is governed wisely,
its inhabitants will be content.
They enjoy the labor of their hands
and don't waste time inventing
labor-saving machines.
Since they dearly love their homes,
they aren't interested in travel.
There may be a few wagons and boats,
but these don't go anywhere.
There may be an arsenal of weapons,
but nobody ever uses them.
People enjoy their food,
take pleasure in being with their families,
spend weekends working in their gardens,
delight in the doings of the neighborhood.
And even though the next country is so close
that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking,
they are content to die of old age
without ever having gone to see it." (80)

How do these relate to the Clotheslines Across America Tour and the large amount of travel being done by "climate activists and scientists" in the name of saving the planet?

Girls like guys who save energy by hanging out their clothes

2009-09-29T16:22:00.002-04:00

Take a look:

This video was created by one of my coworkers for SmartPower.org's EnergySmart Ad Challenge. The deadline is soon (October 5th) but the prize is large ($10,000!) so think up some other great ads ideas that involve drying lines! And in case you don't know, SmartPower is the nation's leading nonprofit marketing firm dedicated to promoting clean energy and energy efficiency.

Friedman Needs a Fact Checker

2009-09-28T12:10:00.002-04:00

Tom Friedman wrote, "France today generates nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants, and it has managed to deal with all the radioactive waste issues without any problems or panics. And us? We get about 20 percent and have not been able or willing to build one new nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, even though that accident led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or neighbors. We’re too afraid to store nuclear waste deep in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain — totally safe — at a time when French mayors clamor to have reactors in their towns to create jobs. In short, the French stayed the course on clean nuclear power, despite Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and we ran for cover."

See http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/frances-nuclear-failures-020209?content_type_key=report&mode=related-items for an in-depth look at the flaws in Friedman's claim that there have been no problems. His claim that Yucca Mountain is totally safe ignores the transportation of waste issue and numerous studies that show Yucca would be a sieve, located on a fault line.

A Touch of Color: Clotheslines in the Capital

2009-09-23T13:17:00.006-04:00

Concord, NH -A Touch of Color: Clotheslines in the Capital is officially over and we have lots of people and organizations to thank for its success. Presented by Project Laundry List, a locally based non-profit with a national network, and sponsored by Seventh Generation and Vermont Country Store. Their mission is making air-drying and cold-water washing laundry acceptable and desirable as simple and effective ways to save energy. The panning committee was run by Radio Host Arnie Arnesen, Jonathan Gregory of Real Green Goods, and Lisa Swan of KAZA Design.

A Touch of Color: Clotheslines in the Capital set out to achieve greater awareness and acceptability of air drying our clothes among the Concord community. We believed that in order to do this we would need the support and participation of the business district, so the event became a contest in which businesses would compete in designing the best overall clothesline to be shown in their windows between September 17^th – 21^st. One perk businesses could take advantage of was the on-hand design team, which included; Cyndi Rogers (Mariposa Design), and Aimee Leduc (Lavender & Lotus Interior Design). These designers volunteered their time and effort into creating the window displays for over one third of the contestants.

Another aspect of A Touch of Color: Clothesline in the Capital was the creation of a highly visible clothesline that stood in front of the State House. This line was managed by the design committee with the help of the local Girl Scout Troop. Their interest and energy level in helping us create a different clothesline for each of the four days was duly appreciated,. Without them the four clotheslines may not have been possible. The themes for each were as follows: Red Day featured an array of autumn fashions, White Day promoted the mission of Project Laundry List, Blue Day featured uniforms from the five branches of service, and Green Day featured multi-national wardrobes to stress the point that we are "Together Green", highlighted by a banner designed by Peg Lipin.

A criterion for the judging was based on six principles:

• Educational value
• Creativity
• Colorfulness
• Humor
• Mission-driven
• Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle

The clotheslines were judged by local professional leaders;

Tom Burack, Commissioner, Dept. of Environmental Services
Rebecca Rule, humorist and storyteller
Betsy Gammons, Rundlett Middle School art teacher
Greg Grappone, Grappone Auto Group
Meredith Hatfield, New Hampshire Consumer Advocate
Rev. Jed Rardin, South Congregational Church (invited)
Rob Werner, City Councilor and Chair, Concord Energy & Environment Committee
Patti Dugan, Director of Membership and Marketing for NE Region Girl Scouts and Environmental teacher of the Year.

We had, fourteen businesses set up clotheslines:

Bead It
Your Home, Your World
Pompanoosuc
Zoe & Co.
Caffenio
Bagel Works
Concord Camera
Lotions n Potions
Gondwana & Divine Clothing Co.
Main Street Concord
Concord Cooperative Market,
Gibsons
Real Green Goods
Goodwill

Judges were asked to tour and judge the list of participating businesses at their convenience over the four day period. Many judges reported the joy of seeing all the creative designs in the window display, and gave thanks for the opportunity to stroll downtown Main St., something they hadn’t done in some time.

The winner of the Clotheslines in the Capital contest was, by clear distinction, Concord Camera. Their design involved the incorporation of film, the third dimension, and the use of drying racks. A picture of their design is attached here for all to view. Concord Camera won a $50 Gift Certificate to our locally beloved Common Man restaurants, along with the "Green Together" poster displayed on the State House clothesline.

We hope that the momentum created in Concord will continue throughout the year; that individuals will consider the use of clotheslines and drying racks, that businesses will consider using more recycled or reused items for their window displays, that we work together as a community when we want to support an issue of importance and that we can all make the 2nd Annual Clotheslines in the Capital Contest ten times as brilliant and visible as this years was!

Elizabeth Soychak Joins the Tour

2009-09-11T08:14:00.002-04:00

Elizabeth Soychak--the Lady in the Green Dress from the Renegade Cabaret, who sang with us in New York City's Cooper Square--has joined the tour as co-pilot and activist extraordinaire. She is a native of Tilton, NH, and grew up in a house where the clothesline was an everyday part of life.