Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible. You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year. The use of an electric or gas clothes dryer is one of the most wasteful habit imaginable. It is also the product of a society that is in too much or a rush and too addicted to convenience for its own good, quite literally.

Even to reduce your use of the clothes dryer will help. Setup a clothes line if you don’t have one. Launder your towels separately. Fluff them in the dryer for just a few minutes (perhaps even on the ‘tumble only’ or ‘cool down’ part of the permanent press cycle), then hang them out to dry. Putting a couple of old tennis balls in with the towels will help fluff them. Since towels hold the most moisture, and water takes sooooo much energy to heat and evaporate, the savings in money and carbon will be significant. More important it will be one more step you will take towards more conscious use of the planet’s limited resources.

If time is the essence, make a commitment to hang dry the big items first. Then if you run out of time, you’ve got the main base covered. This kind of ‘efficiency thinking’ is part of the critical thinking skills which we will need to adopt as a species if we are to succeed long term.

In a related vein, next time you have to buy a washer, look for one with a high speed spin cycle. These models are becoming much more common, and they save a heap of money if you are set on power drying your clothes. But if you want to line-dry your clothes you will need to do the ‘fluff’ first perhaps since the high-speed spin may leave towels stiff and fabrics uncomfortable.