Vermont is the latest state to introduce a bill that would allow people to dry their laundry on clotheslines. Plenty of communities ban hanging your clothes on the line. But now, for the sake of energy conservation, states are giving back people's rights to let the wind do its work.
The Christian Science Monitor reports:
"This trend ... is about people making a little change to help the environment as opposed to something like solar panels
which is much more of an investment," [Vermont Clothesline Company owner Michelle] Baker says.
Baker's orders have steadily risen. While most initial buyers were fellow Vermonters, the company now receives orders from
across the United States, including such places as Tennessee, Texas, and Arkansas.
"We get e-mails and calls every day from people
wanting to know where they can get the materials to hang out their
clothes or how to deal with homeowners' association rules," says Bryan
Wentzell, the group's chairman of the board. "[The Right to Dry
movement] could take off all across the country," he says, noting that
independent states like Vermont will be the first to jump on the
bandwagon."
Maybe. In June, Vermont's Gov. Jim Douglas (R)
vetoed an energy bill with Right to Dry language – though not because
of the clothesline clause, according to state Sen. Dick McCormack (D).
Proponents are now revising a bill to be introduced in January, one
similar to legislation in Florida and Utah that prohibits "state or
local laws or regulations or private contracts from limiting the
ability of dwellers to erect and use clotheslines for the drying of
clothes."
Right to Dry groups are compiling lists of communities than ban clotheslines.
Find a Right to Dry group near you.
The Boston Globe points out:
Ninety-one percent of detached single-family homes in the United States
have a clothes dryer, and a single electric model can spew some 1,500
pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.
a family could save $200 a year in electricity by hanging clothes outside instead of popping them in the dryer. I suppose this would depend on where one lives in the country.
Back to School Resources
The Census Bureau has more data than anybody could want about back to school-related information.
Labor Day Resources
The Census Bureau
has more data than anybody could ever want about this, too!
Al's Morning Multimedia: Grief Camp for Lost Veterans' Children
My friend Howard Berkes, a correspondent for NPR,
reported a tear-inducing story about the children of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The story is worth a look and a listen. The Web site includes lots of photos that help tell the story more fully.
The children talk about the teasing they have endured. They wonder if their mommies are allowed to date. They wonder why wishing wells won't bring their loved ones home.
Canada's Budget Surplus
I just have to point out that Canada now has a
bulging federal budget surplus.
Visa Rules Mean Delays for Temple ConstructionMy friend Brian Bull just produced a nice piece on how work visa restrictions are making it hard for Hindu and Jain temples
to complete construction projects nationwide. (Jainism is an ancient Indian religion.) The work on these temples is so specialized that the congregations have to bring in foreign workers.
Give the story a listen.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
