You can't line-dry clothes in the Land of the Free?!

I live in Blackbird Farms a neighborhood located in West Lafayette IN, where my Home Owners Association (HOA) bans permanent outdoor clotheslines. So, for the past two years, whenever the weather is absolutely beautiful I place my foldable hanger on the lawn, tie a line between two trees to hang the rest of my laundry and go about my day feeling good that I ‘harvested’ some of the sun’s free energy, spent some time outdoors and will shortly have a great smelling load of laundry. Yet this weekend I was approached by the HOA president who informed me that while I am not currently breaking the HOA rules, since I take down the line and bring my hanger inside at the end of the day, the HOA board will most likely have a vote at the next meeting banning all outdoor clothes drying and he just wanted to inform me of this impeding change.

asked him why it mattered and was told that the sight of laundry was unattractive, tacky and hurt my neighbors’ chances of selling their homes. Not knowing much about the subject I did an internet search and found absolutely no proof (or data for that matter) which found that laundry lines cause property values to decrease. It may be that in the past only poorer neighborhoods had laundry lines but let’s please remember that correlation does not mean causation. Furthermore in these modern times it might be good to be open minded and let people have the option to do the environmentally correct thing to do if they wish.
Now, I could just have decided to forget about this issue, but I feel strongly about my right to hang my laundry out to dry on my personal property. Why do I prefer to bring my laundry outside since all winter I’ve been hanging it inside? Well for one it takes about 2 hours to dry outside versus 24 hours or more inside, but also it gets me to spend some time outdoors where I can have friendly chats with my neighbors, play with my dogs and it brings back the nostalgia of something I used to do alongside my grandmother. I also think it looks great! All those colors flying in the wind, breaking down the monotony of cookie cutter homes that plague suburban America.
According to laundrylist.org, in the U.S. about half of the 300,000 home owners association ban drying clothes outside, yet dryers account for 6% of annual residential electric consumption according to a 2001 Department of Energy Study _ only the refrigerator and heating and cooling units top that! If all Americans switched to line drying laundry we would save 6.5 billion dollars (of consumer money), and if they line dried just half their loads we would instantly decrease residential U.S. Carbon emissions by 3.3% according to a 2007 article in the New York Times.
Line drying will make your clothes last longer and decrease the need for ironing.
There are also safety concerns: the U.S. Fire Administration reports that dryers are responsible for 15 deaths, 300 injuries, 15,600 structure fires and $99 million dollars lost to damage yearly on average (data from 2002-2004). Moreover having people outside serves as an informal neighborhood crime watch.
I personally think that what’s hurting my neighbors chances of selling their homes is that our neighborhood looks half dead, no one knows their neighbors and they all spend their lives safely inside their home bubble. Get out America, smell the fresh air and line dry your laundry! Your CO2 footprint will thank you, your wallet will thank you and ultimately your neighbors will thank you, because in a neighborhood that is alive, property values go up.

For more information go to linedryit.com, laundrylist.org and right2dry.org.