Rachel Bilson has joined up with a whole bunch of other celebrities to get Americans drying clothes on the line — and saving cash and energy at the same time. The campaign comes from Hills, an iconic Australian brand of clothes lines.

According to their release, the use of clothes lines and drying racks in the U.S. has declined steadily since the 1950s as adoption of appliances went mainstream. This has led to the drier becoming the the largest energy sucker in American home next to the refrigerator.

Other celebrities lending their support include Matt Rhys, Olivia Newton-John, Kimberly Joseph, Dannii Minogue, Amanda Detmer, Radha Mitchell, and Melissa George. Said Lost’s Kimberly Joseph, “I grew up in Australia helping Mum hang washing out to dry on the Hills Hoist (and going for the odd swing as well)…nothing like the smell of sun dried t-shirts and linen. With great weather being the #1 draw card here in Los Angeles, clothes dryers should be a thing of the past. Bring on the Hills Hoist, I say!!”

Spring is here! Get your clothes outside!

You can check out the official campaign website here — but keep in mind that things won’t truly be going live until the end of next week.

Channel Seven, a popular Australian television network, is under fire for reportedly demanding a cancer charity pay for its production costs in return for covering an upcoming fundraiser. The $130,000 in question would have covered the costs of sending a reporter (and crew) from its Sunrise program to a 21-day celebrity walk in China.

Olivia Newton-John and a host of local and international stars begin a 228km trek over 21 days next Monday to raise funds for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre Appeal.

Apparently, Channel Seven agreed to provide the coverage only if the charity could come up with a sponsor to cover their costs. Unfortunately, no sponsor could be found — and the cancer organization was angered saying that it would be inappropriate for a charity to give money to a commercial concern. So, the network pulled out and all hell broke loose.

It’s an interesting debacle. On one hand, this is a 21-day shoot that comes with great expense — on the other, you’re dealing with a major Australian network that probably isn’t hurting on the books. It’s too bad that some kind of compromise (meet you half-way?) couldn’t be reached whereas the charity would receive its publicity and the network would be seen doing a good deed. Now, they just look foolish.

via NineMSN