Washers of the World, Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Lines

The battle over global warming is escalating and it's being fought all over the cultural map, most recently in a three state struggle for the "right to dry."

The Globe reports today that some environmentalists, specifically a group called Project Laundry List, are pushing for legislation in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont that would guarantee residents are allowed to set up clotheslines. They claim that dryers are a house's second biggest electricity drain (number one being the fridge) but many people are restricted from the alternative because of anti-clothesline regulations.

The legislation has to contend with the prevailing notion that clotheslines are a symbol of backwardness that hurts communities by lowering property values. Laundry List's Alexander Lee told the Globe, "We want Martha and Oprah to make the clothesline into a pennant of eco-chic, instead of a flag of poverty."

The group's website is light and clever. Their "testimonials" page features a famous Benjamin Franklin saying: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."

Despite the good intentions, it seems unlikely that New England--which is so economically developed--would become a clothesline renewal region. Plus, it's below freezing outside about three fourths of the year, which might be problematic.