Hangin High with Oil

Hanging Climate Change out to DRY!
This topic has been swirling around my mind like my socks on Sunday wash day. I first picked up this topic a couple of months back with a report in the NYTimes about a guy who was fighting against neighborhood planning commissions over the right to hang up laundry in ones back yard. Finally, with the help of TreeHugger, I have the article in which to formulate my thoughts!

One of my most vivid childhood memories is that of helping my mom hang up the laundry on the clothes line in the back yard. Five lines were strung between two T poles at either end of the yard and nearly our entire weeks worth of wash could fit on the line at the same time. I can still smell the clothes line smell of the fresh air that dried the clothes. I will admit that I HATED having my jeans dried on the line, but that is but a small inconvenience. The only items that were dried were the personal items (socks and underwear) or when the temperature was to crappy in which to utilize the line.

Electric clothes dryers using between 5-10% of residential electricity each year and the benefits of hanging clothes outside clearly outweigh the negatives. First and foremost, the weather for nearly all of the US is ideal for hanging clothes whether in the summer or in winter. There are locations in which the temperature is below freezing for much of the winter and its nearly impossible to hang clothes outside during this time. But if you hang clothes indoor during the winter, it can act as a humidifier for the dry air in the home. Plus, clothes last longer, sunlight is a natural disinfectant, and the smell is something that no chemical can beat! Best of all...its FREE, minus the small purchase of a piece of rope, or a drying rack for the indoors!

I am flabbergasted to find that many community organizations ban the presence of a clotheslines from a persons private property. It is hard to believe that anyone would be opposed to something that is so environmentally friendly and easy to do. It screams comfy down home American neighborhood, yet, many developments ban such lines and fine homeowners if they are found to have a clothes line. I think, with the current downturn in the economy, that these communities would be more willing to allow clotheslines, they are defiantly more appealing than row after row of For Sale signs that dot the landscape now.

High Oil
I really should just stop writing about high oil prices, since everyone else seems to be writing about it now as well. So, unless oil tops $110 (US) or is something interesting that I feel I should pass along, oil is officially dead in this blog. I am tired of the media feeding the speculation, which has driven prices higher. In a way, I am for higher prices for fuel, as I am ashamed at how wasteful our society has become on the cheap fuel that we have become addicted to. But when the fundamentals of supply and demand no longer dictate the price of a particular item, I just don't buy it. This weeks EIA report shows that US stocks of oil rose for the eighth straight week and gasoline inventories are at least 8% higher than the running 5 year average. This doesn't have as big of an impact on gas prices as one would hope as oil is running $40 (US) higher than a year ago and the drastic increase in the price of oil is just now really starting to be pushed onto the consumer. Diesel fuel is at an all time high and gas prices will soon follow suit. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. We, can for the sake of our pocketbooks, hope that the Fed doesn't decide to lower interest rates any more and investors pull profits and oil prices recede some. But don't hold your breath on that, it is oil by the way, and no matter how high it goes, we're all still sucking it down like a fine bottle of whine!
Cheers