by Michael Pastorkovich

"Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose."
---Henry David Thoreau

[Note: "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify" is a new feature in Allegheny Sierran beginning this issue. Its purpose is to feature ways of living more simply and environmentally sustainably. We invite our readers to submit their ideas in essay form for publication.--The Editor]

Despite what most of our political leaders, even the environmentally friendly ones, and even some of the leadership of the environmental movement, would have us believe, I have long been of the opinion that our typical "American Way of Life" will be impossible once fossil fuels are out of the picture. I believe that this will be the case even if, much to my chagrin, nuclear power is included in the mix of substitutes.

People throughout the developed world, and especially Americans, will have to radically change their lives if we are even going to successfully stave off the worst effects of climate change. The private automobile will largely have to go, to be replaced by accessible, affordable, sustainable public mass transportation. Single-use plastics, except for those used for crucial things like serious medical procedures, will also have to go. For those who are able, more travel by bicycle and by foot will have to replace use of energy-intensive modes of transportation for short-distance treks.

The plethora of bike lanes in our cities and the reluctance among some millennials to own automobiles or even, in some cases, to possess a driver's license is a sign that real, radical lifestyle change is already, to some extent, a reality at least in up-and-coming generations, and indicates an openness to further change on the path of simplified sustainability.

In that spirit, I would like to introduce to our younger readers (and, perhaps, reintroduce to some of our older ones) a radical tool of energy conservation in our fight against climate change called the clothesline.

Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash

Back in the ancient times, when few people talked about environmentalism, also, when almost no one had home air-conditioning, groceries came in paper bags, pop and beer in returnable glass bottles, and folks had broken appliances repaired instead of simply discarding them, women (and it was almost exclusively women) did the family laundry on Monday morning often in a non-automatic washing machine equipped with a wringer instead of a spin cycle (if the concept of such a device means nothing to you younger readers, check for pictures online) and then hung the wet clothing outside on a piece of rope, cord, twine, or even metal wire stretched from one end of the back yard to the other (or between windows in the case of apartment dwellers), attaching the clothing to the line with wooden pegs called clothespins and then letting the sun and the wind dry the laundry. This early use of solar and wind power drew no energy from the power grid, and, once the line and the clothespins had been purchased, didn't cost a penny.

Also needed were wooden (not plastic) props to keep the line from sagging and the clothing from dragging on the ground.

Clotheslining also provides good walking and stretching exercise which most couch-potato Americans need anyway. And you can be listening to music or books online while you're doing it.

The wattage of an average electric clothes dryer is 1800W to 5000W. That is the amount of power the dryer is drawing from the grid per second. By contrast, the average automatic washer draws only about 320W. The reason the wattage of the dryer is so much higher is that it must both generate heat and spin.

Of course, the wattage from clotheslining is 0.

Needless to say, clotheslining is not feasible when it is raining or during a heavy snowstorm. It is possible in winter, especially in sub-freezing temperatures. The lower the temperature, the less humidity in the atmosphere. As to rainy days, back in olden times people actually hung clothes indoors on those kind of days, but, given the size of dwellings, it may be smarter just to make a trip to the laundromat.

As for apartment dwellers, clotheslining would probably require permission from the landlord and even if granted would require negotiating a shared pulley system with a neighbor. Not an easy chore, perhaps, but maybe a good way to introduce folks to the realities of climate science. Also, many apartment buildings have laundry rooms where access to washers and dryers is included in the rent, rendering the possibility of neighborly cooperation in the matter even more difficult to obtain.

The point of these simplification suggestions is try them if and when you can. American bicyclers don't ride their bikes all the time everywhere. But when they do, they are contributing to a solution to climate change by traveling while not pumping more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.

When Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss formulated the germ theory of disease and began to wash his hands before treating his patients, he had a hard time persuading his fellow physicians to do likewise. But he began a one-man revolution which reached the point that today hand-washing on the part of medical professionals before performing procedures is universally mandated and (hopefully) universally practiced.