英语课程计划-National Hanging Out Day（在线收听）

National Hanging Out Day is a day to think about the environment and what you can do to help it. It is on April 19th each year. It’s very simple. On this day, you make sure you hang your clothes out to dry on a clothes line. We can save a lot of money and energy by using the humble clothes line. We waste money and energy by using electric dryers, which also add to global warming. Using a clothes line can actually save the average household several hundred dollars a year. In America, electric clothes dryers account for up to ten per cent of people’s electricity bills. The day was created by the Project Laundry List, which joins together with other organizations to educate communities about energy consumption.

Laundry List.org has other reasons for you to hang your clothes out to dry. It’s good for you. Standing in the fresh air, feeling the wind on your face and hearing the birds sing is therapeutic. It also makes your clothes smell fresher and last longer. Unfortunately, it’s difficult for some people to do this because some communities ban people from hanging their clothes out. Some people believe it makes the area look bad. To overcome this, many U.S. states have passed legislation that protects your “right to dry”. So April 19 is a celebration of the clothes line. If everyone in the USA swapped their dryer for a clothes line, homes would reduce their CO2 output by 3.3%. A single dryer in a U.S. home uses more energy a year than the average African uses.