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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika Hanging laundry outside to let it dry is seen with suspicion in the United States. Americans prefer running electric dryers inside the house to airing clothes in the wind. Dryers are consuming energy, though, so airing it is the greener approach. But until recently, many appartment complexes prohibited hanging laundry outside. Powerful homeowners associations (HOAs) consider laundry an eyesore, fear sliding property values, and therefore until recently expicitly disallowed the practice in contracts signed by home owners and their renters.
Starting January 2016, however, California residents can now legally hang their laundry outside to dry. Our governor Jerry Brown signed the new law in October, as California strives to be with the top of the pack when it comes to being environmentally friendly. California State Assembly representative Patti Lopez of San Fernando had brought the new law on its way, but not mainly for environmental reasons. Many of her voters can't afford electric dryers and air-drying laundry on a clothes line comes at no cost. A few other states already have similar laws in place: Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Utah, Vermont. And if you've ever been to San Francisco's Chinatown, you have probably noticed that it's very common there to see laundry fluttering on clothes lines in the wind. It's always been this way, regardless of old or new laws.
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