One thing this writer finds disturbing about the "global warming" topic is the effect the constant hysterical propaganda is having on children who are exposed to it.

Several weeks ago, I related memories of how we kids in the 1970's were told of all sorts of dire futures that awaited us unless we "did something" about the problems of global freezing, The Population Bomb, pollution, oil shortages and the potential death of every lifeform in the sea.

We passed the projected dates of doom with none of these horrors coming true, but now a new generation of kids are having their brains filled with the same kind of scare mongering that was inflicted on us. The tone these days is much more panic-stricken.

And it's creating all sorts of ill effects with the kids. According to a study by British supermarket chain Somerfield, half of young children in that country are anxious about the effects of global warming, "often losing sleep because of their concern."

Well, when schools and the media are constantly pumping this new eco-religion into their skulls, what did you expect?

The survey of 1,150 kids between ages seven and 11 found that one in four blamed politicians for the problems of climate change and one in seven said their own parents were not doing enough to improve the environment.

"The most feared consequences of global warming included poor health, the possible submergence of entire countries and the welfare of animals," according to the study.

The last time this writer saw anything remotely like "the possible submergence of entire countries" was the movie "Nihon Chinbotsu" or "Japan Sinks," a remake of an earlier flick brought to you by the filmmakers who made Godzilla famous.

Some groups are using children in other disturbing ways to promote their agenda. One is a short video produced by the environmental behemoth Greenpeace, featuring a pale looking young lad with facial twitches issuing threats to all adults if they don't solve the "warming" problem.

The video was posted on YouTube this week and after watching it, this writer thinks that either the child is one heck of an actor or needs time in a rubber room. "This is the last time I'll be talking to you adults," he says. "You've had your chance..." before threatening "direct action," which is another term for arson and property destruction in "activist" circles.

The kid also hints at a new eco-youth army that will be coming down the pike if we don't get our acts together. I imagine they'll be calling themselves the Greenshirts.

What's frightening is that a whole generation has been conditioned to accept the hysterics of the environmentalists without any critical evaluation whatsoever. But if one bunch gets their way, there won't be kids around even to debate it.

On Wednesday, Rhode Island's top paper, The Providence Journal, published an editorial by John Seager, who calls for fighting "global warming" by having more abortions. Seager is the national president of Population Connection, formerly known as Zero Population Growth, and he seems to think that the future would be a lot brighter if there were fewer humans living in it.

He uses the term "family planning" in the article quite a bit, but one paragraph jumps right out at you:

"Globally, at least 350 million couples lack family planning services. Here in the United States, one-third of all births are unplanned. And the Bush administration's family-planning failures, from its global gag rule against abortion to ideologically driven abstinence-only programs, contribute directly to millions of unwanted and unplanned births. If we could cut in half the number of unwanted births in the U.S. alone, we'd have about 5 million fewer births over 20 years."

"If every child is planned," Seager says, "we'll go a long way toward solving global warming and making a less-crowded and healthier world."

Just like China, right John? They've got family planning down to a science, by forcibly mandating how many kids their citizens can have to just one.

The way it works is this: Even if every couple produces two kids, total population still doesn't grow. Here in the United States, we rank 130th on the world fertility list. At a rate of 2.09 children-per-woman, the U.S. population has already stabilized.

It's poorer countries like Niger, which tops the list with 7.46 children born per woman, that would be impacted by Seager's agenda, if it ever came to fruitition. I'd really like to see Mr. Seager tour the Third World and tell them to stop having so many kids, because they are causing "global warming." You can just imagine their reaction.

Seager's idea makes as much sense as Jonathan Swift's piece written in 1729 titled "A Modest Proposal," which called for cooking and eating the poor children of Ireland so they wouldn't be a burden on their parents and society in general.

The thing is, Swift was joking. People like Seager and Greenpeace are dead serious.