Driving around where we live in rural Kentucky, or most anywhere in the vast countryside of America, you will still find sheets and clothing and underwear fluttering in the breeze from stretches of clothesline. There is a quiet, sublime beauty to clotheslines if you stop to ponder them. Poems have even been written about them, or hanging out the laundry, such as some of the lovely domestic musings by poet Jane Kenyon. The clotheslines lined with colorful  Old Order Mennonite dresses and aprons in nearby Casey County are a favorite sight of mine. And there is nothing like the smell of the sun and the wind in your sheets. So, just imagine that you are using those same natural resources to dry them! Free of charge.

This photograph is proof that American suburbs and small neighborhoods used to allow clotheslines. The photo is of a certain girl, clearly immodest herself, in the backyard of her post-World War II development in suburban Akron, Ohio, on a May morning of 1964. This was the same era when the majority of American households had one car, one income, and, despite the emergent home appliance industry, frugality was still practiced in the home. Like taking advantage of good drying weather and hanging out your laundry. It was often even the social highlight of one's day.

A half-century later, a series of clotheslines strung about in the back yards of suburban America is truly a rare event. People would complain to their neighborhood presidents. Petitions would be signed. Violation orders would ensue. Clean white sheets might be stained with the juice of errant tomatoes (well, we hope not).

My friend (and Project Laundry List adviser) Bill McKibben and a large number of people are rightfully apoplectic that Barack Obama has not put Jimmy Carter's old solar panels (or an up-to-date set) back on the roof of the people's house. There is no question that Obama should (or much question that he has failed the planet and so far) , but if I had fifteen minutes with Letterman, I would not talk about solar panels.

America is suffering beneath the mis-impression that if you can do something, you should. There is this religious belief in the US of A that boot-straps and elbow grease, ingenuity and technology will deliver us from evil. Nobody is a better promoter of this hubris than Tom Friedman of the New York Times or the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

Instead of reducing our consumption of energy and resources, most of our political and thought leaders are, very HOPEfully, focused on the silver bullets that will allow us to keep living our depressed, obesogenic lives where we work too much and take too little vacation. It is f**king nonsense!

This was sent to us last January. We have neglected to post it until now.

In looking to make positive change in ending the excessive use of dryers, I would like to share with you my story:
 
Seven years ago my family and I moved from NY/CT to Paris.  For the first year we lived on La Place de Breteuil. This is one of the most prestigious addresses and neighbourhoods in Paris. When watching this video (link directly below) notice the only relatively modern building on the place/roundabout.  This was our home -- AND there was NO DRYER.  We rented this apartment from a very good friend of ours as it was his Paris apartment as there is no 'renting allowed' in this building, goodness no. On the market this apartment, with floor to ceiling views of the Eiffel Tower would go for 1.8 - 2M Euros. FYI:  NO ONE hung their clothes out to dry in this neighbourhood -- yet I bet less than 10% of the homes has dryers.  Gosh... what did we do -- see below.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htx46mOU2uY

Our second apartment in Paris was 68 Blvd de Courcelles, across from Parc Monceau.  We lived there for 3 1/2 years.  It did not come with a dryer, but I bought a ventless dryer (which is why most people in Paris do not have dryers -- no way to break through the walls for a vent). BUT, I only dried the towels.  Very very few people within our building or elsewhere had dryers -- and NO ONE hung their clothes out to dry.  These 'condos' are going for 1.5 - 4M euros in our building.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard_de_Courcelles  scroll down the page a bit to see the buildings on my old street
 
Now, I live in Bristol, UK.  We have a 7+ bedroom home on Downleaze.

http://www.heritage-explorer.org.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=5704&crit=&cid=17
 
The home was on the market for 1.7M GBP which is about 2.7M$.  We are renting it from the owners for one year until we move back to the US and for them they needed to wait until the housing market turned around.  NO DRYERS.  OK, we have a very large garden (backyard) and there is a permanent clothes dryer contraption out there, and yes my neighbours do hang their clothes to dry -- and they are all well to do.  BUT, we live in England and the amount of sunny days is limited. So, we DO NOT DRY OUR CLOTHES OUTSIDE.
 
Gosh, what do we do?
 
Most of our homes were built pre-plumbing and some pre-electric so the laundry was done in the kitchen (where they would dry in a rack that is pulled down from the ceiling and then the hot air from the oven would dry the clothes) or they have their hanging racks where the now furnace is.  And that is what the entire country (France and England) do. 

I really really think if you shift your focus from hanging wash outside, to inside you might get more conversions.  Here is why.  Taking the laundry outside is a pain. It is inconvenient and you need to be home in case it rains. Granted the weather here in the UK is much more unpredictable that in most parts of the US, but there is a great agitation when I hang things outside as at any moment I would need to run out if it starts raining.  However, if I just hang the wet clothes in the multiple rack system I have in the basement next to the furnace/water heater (which conveniently is next to the washing machine) it is safe, it dries overnight and no worries about rushing outside.
 
Also, wondering why your hanging racks are so expensive.  In the UK they range around 20-30 GBP http://direct.asda.com/Laundry-+-Ironing/2172,default,sc.html  although that is about $50 it is not a big deal for a one time investment for a family.  The $100+ racks on your website are way too big of a deterrent even for me and I am one of the converted.
 
Why not sell one of these:  http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/s_10151_10104_For the Home_Laundry & Garment Care_Drying Racks  along with your higher priced ones.  If the goal is really climate change, make it easy for others.  Make it compelling.
 
Most higher-end dryers these days have settings such as silk, wool, etc. We have been fortunate to have high-end Miele washing machines in most places we lived or the equivalent.  I barely take anything to the dry cleaners anymore -- and have not for the past 7 years. It is expensive and toxic.  And there is NO WAY you can put any fine washables in the dryer.
 
OK, if I was not moving back to the US this summer I would have purchased a dryer as what I wouldn't give for a fluffy towel.  But for 90% of my washing I would not use the dryer.  This is what I did in one apartment in Paris.  I had a dryer and only did the towels.  Then rest of my laundry (husband and three kids worth) were hung on a variety of racks and then ironed.  Ah, and that is the key.  Without drying ironing is a must.  Even the children's sleepwear is ironed.  In Europe we have these super great steam irons - which are not that expensive.  In Europe it seemed as though their white goods got better and not bigger.  No space, so the manufacturers such as Miele made more efficient, better appliances. Here is what a steam iron looks like in France
http://www.darty.com/nav/achat/petit_electromenager/repassage/centrale_vapeur/index.html

OK, I had an ironer in France.  That is what is done there (in Paris).  A win:win for everyone -- job for someone once a week for 3 hours at 7 Euros an hour but in the UK it is not done as much so I have a cleaning woman who helps and then I do the rest -- for 21 Euros I have immaculate, perfectly ironed clothes, sheets, etc. that hold up better over time with brighter colors.  Beds look much better.  Clothes look much better.
 
So, perhaps going the traditional American marketing route if you really want to convince people there is a benefit for not using a dryer:

- They look better (clothes look better)

- Their homes look better (bedroom linens much crisper, dining room linens more posh, etc.)
- Better for you as the chemicals in dry cleaning will give you cancer (here is the toxicology report on perc --  http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp18.html )  Americans like being scared,  Scare the hell out of them with this one.  It is scary and should be.
 Once they start doing their fine washables, which without question you cannot place in a dryer, not drying the other clothes will not be that big of a leap.

- It costs less, goodness that is a plus these days (but not the main motivator)

And, oh yeah -- much much better for the environment, isn't that a huge plus (again, a motivator for you and me but not the masses yet, alas)
 
Hope this helps.  Feel free to share.  And good luck.
 
All the best,
Janice

With the damp laundry piled in a wobbly plastic tub to her right, my mother would hold out her left hand beckoning for a clothespin. At her left, I would reach into the faded fabric clothespin bag for the wooden clothespin. I was careful to point it in the right direction to make it easier for her clasp onto the wet fabric, like how the operating room nurse slaps the scalpel into the outstretched, gloved palm of the surgeon. We repeated this rhythmic routine on the back porch of the two-family house where I grew up. Six lines of rope fastened to the underside of the porch above us formed a simple but sturdy clothesline.

As a lonely only child, with few chores to do, this opportunity to feel helpful was special. I loved inhaling and tasting the fresh air out on the porch. My mom and I would chat, and I would look up at her serene expression as she pinned up each item neatly on the line. Sometimes she would arrange the clothes on the lines by color – all the blue things together, etc. --or into categories such as shirts, sox, and sheets. She would discretely hang our underwear on the inside lines, shielded from public view by the other lines of wash. The breezes would blow the clothes to and fro, and when the laundry was taken inside we inhaled deeply of the wonderful wind-blown scent. Mom favored drying the laundry this way, rather than in the electric dryer that we eventually bought. Mom hung clothes outside even in winter, and when she would bring them in later, they had become stiff as cardboard cutouts after hours in the frigid air. We both would laugh as they cracked and melted in the house.

Two things astound me about the American car market.

The first is how much money the typical American is willing to throw away on such a lousy investment - i.e. a new car. We all know that a new car rapidly decreases in value, from the day it leaves the lot. The economically intelligent thing to do, therefore, would be to buy the cheapest car possible, so as to minimize the ensuing loss of wealth. Instead, Americans are throwing away ever more money on new cars. In 1970, the average American salary was $7,000, and the average new car price was $3,900. Today the average American salary is about $31,000, and the average sales price of a new car is $30,000. We are growing more stupid by the year! Why do we insist on throwing so much money into a losing (automotive) proposition?

The second incongruity is the growing piggishness of the typical US automobile - American cars get fatter, and more "fuelish" every year! Even the Honda Civic that I know and love has grown more bloated and provides less MPG in 2010 than it did in 2000, or 1990. It doesn't have to be this way. I happen to be in Europe at the moment, and there are so many cool, small cars which get 45 to 50 MPG (or more). Here, in the UK, Ford offers a number of models that would compete nicely with the most economical offerings from Toyota or Honda. I had no idea that Ford actually knew how to make an appealing, efficient, inexpensive car. Why keep these cars hidden from us, is their US marketing plan to only serve the stupid buyers?