Life is not black and white.
When we vowed to give up the car for stupid journeys we accepted that every time we DID take the Land rover out we would need to justify it to ourselves. So when we felt sorry for ourselves early this week and wanted some shop brought comfort (hey..we had been ill! In the school holidays AND it was raining..I stand by my choice *heehee*) I made sure that we packed as much into the trip as possible.
So as well as the shop we also took all the re-cycling we could find, went to the charity shop to buy junk to make Halloween costumes (and books!) as well as taking stuff to them. We stopped by the chemist and the art supply shop, and took out cash for at home money from the ATM.
I can accept that, again....not black and white.
However one thing I have been putting to the back of my mind for a while is the tumble dryer.
Now ask anyone of a green bent what they think of the tumble drier in relation to the environment and they will shrink back hissing like Nosferatu from sunlight. In fact it is almost universally agreed on that these machines are basically the devil dressed in white and making your clothes soft and dry.
We have one.
We brought one just over four years ago after struggling for years without one.
I used to hang washing from clothes horses in front of the fire and line dry when possible.
Now I LOVE to line dry. I get a 1950's housewife satisfaction from getting sweet smelling dry clothes for free on a sunny day (or even a grey day when the wind is in the right direction) but I live in the north east of Scotland, my nearest sea is the north sea, we get a lot of rain (and snow and ice ...), so a lot of the time washing was indoors.
So far so green right?
Well, although I could put up with the smell of slowly moldering laundry my walls couldn't.
Our house is old (1800's)and made of stone, the insulation isn;t fantastic, We have done what we can but the way the house is built limits us with things like wall cavity filling.
The plaster board on my walls rotted.
You could poke a finger through it.
The condensation from the drying laundry killed my walls and covered them in mould.
As a family of five who live an outdoors life you can imagine that even being a little grubby we still get through a load of washing a day.
And what about duvets? Bed sheets? Yes I can wait for a sunny day but what happens when one of my small children has a night time accident or (as we had last week) vomits in their bed?
Try drying a duvet on a clothes horse in front of the fire.
So when we brought our tumble dryer I was told "No more drying in the house!"
Apart from the ruined plaster board, mouldy walls are not good for asthmatics!
This was fine, I still do lots of drying on the line and only use the dryer when I have to ....until....it broke.
Just a drive belt but we didn;t get round to fixing it. The weather was nice and it didn't matter, and that little voice in the back of my head said..."maybe we DON'T need a dryer?"
Until this week, when illness and rain (been over 36 hrs STRAIGHT of torrential rain and gales so far) meant that my bathroom floor was carpeted in dirty washing and my living room was steaming as I desperately tried to dry washed bed sheets and yes, duvets in front of my fire.
I did what I had to do.
I got online, ordered the new drive belt. 24hrs later Kim fitted it and I have to say the poor thing hasn't stopped since yesterday.
So what do you do?
The occasional use of a dryer is surely better than re-platerbording your house every couple of years, better than having to take stronger asthma meds?
But I still get that niggle in the back of my head, the one that purses its lips and sniffs and proclaims that THEY never use a tumble dryer.
SO what do YOU do??
I think its the thought that counts. You're aware of the energy sucking dryer and use it the least amount possible. If everyone did at least that it would make the world a better place. You're green in so many other ways using a dryer is forgivable ;)
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way at times. We cloth diaper Maya but I use the dryer to dry them when the weather isn't condusive to line drying. It seems a little backwards to use dryer but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And I always use the dryer for our clothes. I just don't have the time to wait for them to dry on the line. I do take towels out though and let them line dry.
Your totally right, there are many shades of grey to being green. I think being aware and conscience of pitfalls along the journey is half of the battle. If more people where aware and tried in small ways to become more green it would really start to ease the strain on the planet.
use the tumble dryer! you can't be perfectly green in 2009 but you can be near as dammit! You can't risk your health by allowing the walls to go mouldy because if that happened then you won't be able to cycle anywhere thus undoing all the good work you have done so far? geddit?
ReplyDeletexx Leesa xx
I have a dryer and I don't apologise for it. I try to be as green as I can, but my dryer stays! Where I live we get very few days when I can put my laundry on the line without welding it on - we stay on a windy hill and I have lost many a garment from the wind whipping it away. If my kids had asthma, then I would do everything possible to keep them as attack free as I could. Another thing - when I use the dryer, I can fold the clothes and put them away. When I use the line, every single thing has to be ironed. Which uses electricity.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you can survive without a dryer in Scotland, during the Winter. Don't be too hard on yourselves.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as you are looking for solutions to reduce your TD use (and good on you for this):
A Sheila Maid (hanging clothes airer), fixed to the ceiling, almost above your fire is great, as the heat rises.
Also, do you have a lean-to, or large eaves to your property? If so, a washing line under-cover from the rain, but open to the wind will dry the clothes a fair bit, even on a drizzly day. Then finish off in the tumble dryer. A great compromise!
We are going to roof over our deck in the garden to try this..just waiting for some roofing materials!! I personally think the sheilas maid is a great idea, Kim is not so sure. We had so much trouble with condensation when we dried clothes inside bfore that it has really made him nervous. I am working on getting him to put one up anyway..you know..just to see ;)
ReplyDelete