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Good Morning! Don't you just love it when your family does half of your job for you? Well, that is the case with today's post. You know, it was really ironic that Irina (my German exchange sister) sent me a note on facebook regarding clothes lines in America, because I had been thinking of trying to use my dryer a lot less, but thinking about it doesn't really count. I, of course, will include her huge compliments in the note that I have copied here.
Dear Judy,
I love reading your blog, I am amazed at how much and how professionally and yet with your very personal style you write. I had to laugh hard about the fridge cleaning.
Yesterday I was thinking about the little conversation we had about dryers. There was a long article in our newspaper about the fight FOR clotheslines in the US! I had no idea that there were areas where they were outlawed! Colorado apparantly just passed a law against the outlawing. I found this link to the information in English which I'm sure you'll be interested in, if you didn't already now! Matthias and I made a vow to each other to NOT buy a dryer when we become parents, as friends of ours just recently suggested we probably would.
Much love!
Irina
The conversation that she is referring to is one that we had over a post on how green I am. Well, Irina really put me in my place (LOL), I had blogged about double spinning your clothes because it takes them much less time to dry that way, and she reminded me that they don't even have a dryer, and think that spinning twice is even too much energy to use. Since that time it has really gotten me thinking. Why do I only hang bedding out in the fresh air to dry? Should The Royal Ranch have a clothesline? Well, of course it should! And, most importantly how do we as Americans rank when it comes to using our eco-friendly resources? This is what Irina had to say when I asked her if they were more "green" than most Germans, and how they are compared to us lazy Americans (again, LOL):
Yes, I think we are more eco-aware than the average German. We are e. g. pretty good in not taking the car when train, tram or bicycle does the transportation job, too. But we do have a car (rather Matthias has one), Matthias is car pooling to work, while I take the bicycle or the tram. But we are no heroes and do use the car occasionally.
But I also think that the average German is more eco-aware than the average American. It probably partly has to do with our history and the times during and after WWII where resources were scarce and "saving" was a survival attitude. I remember my Grandma sending me to the bakery (and that was in the 70ies) with the paper bag from the day before, or the day before that. Why getting a new one when the old one was still good? Or wrapping paper. My mother always kept and reused (didn't iron, like some do!), and I do the same thing. The unwrapping takes longer and gets more exciting when you carefully open to not harm the paper, too.
Please feel free to blog about this, but please don't think I'm missioning.
Much Love!
Irina
