The singer Sheryl Crow opened a new front in the fight on global warming yesterday with a call for people to use only one sheet of toilet paper after each visit.

Her demand for a ban on excessive paper use came after a heated exchange with Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, at a dinner in Washington on Saturday. When Crow approached him to demand that he take global warming more seriously, she placed her hand on his arm. According to Crow, Mr Rove immediately spat: “Don’t touch me!”

The singer has just toured the US on a biodiesel-powered bus to raise awareness about climate change, and made the paper use suggestion on her daily blog.

“I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don’t want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.”

Crow also said on her web-site that paper napkins “represent the height of wastefulness”. She has designed a clothing line with what she calls a “dining sleeve”.

It is detachable and can be replaced with another sleeve after the diner has wiped his mouth. “This idea could also translate quite well to those suffering with an annoying head cold,” she writes, but she does not prescribe how many wipes per nostril. Ms Crow’s latest contribution to the global warming debate came as her run-in with Mr Rove was the talk of Washington yesterday.

Ms Crow and Laurie David, a big Democratic donor and producer of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary on global warming, approached Rove at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner to urge him to take a “fresh look” at global warming. Rove reacted angrily, they said. “I am floored by what I just experienced with Karl Rove,” Ms David said. “I’ve never had anyone be so rude.” He had behaved like “a spoiled child throwing a tantrum”, she said.

Mr Rove said of Ms David: “She came over to insult me and she succeeded.”

The White House described their behaviour as “Hollywood histrionics.”

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