Regardless of whether or not Ms. Crow was joking, the WWF in Italy apparently are serious in wanting people to cut down on cleanliness. According to my good friend Carlo Stagnaro, the (Italian-only) article in today’s Corriere della Sera says the following:

(a) Never take a shower, just a bath once a week – also says when, i.e. on Saturday morning – unless you are a sportsman or do some tiring job, in which case you can get more than a bath per week (but never, never one per day); (b) Don’t wash your teeth as you get up in the morning; (c) Use your shirts at least 2 or 3 days in a row – and please don’t use white ones, and give up your tie; (d) YOU SHOULD USE THE SAME UNDERPANTS FOR MORE THAN 3 DAYS IN A ROW, AND CHANGE YOUR T-SHIRT JUST ONCE A WEEK (on Saturday, again!); (e) Socks may last as much as 3 days, at least by Winter; (f) Don’t use your washing machine – just a quick passage of your dirty dishes below the water, because “a small piece of old food on the dish is healthier than traces of chemicals”, but – don’t laugh – “when my wife (who regards myself as a man with little sense of hygiene, and possibly is right) washes things change, and we use the washing machine at full load” (God bless wives); (g) Before going to bed just a quick wash at specific parts of the body (guess what…) since “an healthy man who don’t sweat too much may have a good relation life even with no horrible deodorant” (sic)

This from the head of WWF Italy. I amazed he still has a wife.