C'mon, admit it: You love playing games and talking to friends on the Internet.

You're on Club Penguin, and you have your own Webkinz. Your little sister complains that she never gets a turn at the game, and it always seems that Mom kicks you off just when you have almost enough virtual money to buy clothes or deck out your igloo.

Here's a good excuse for next time: I'm learning how to fight global warming!

There are many ways you can use your love of playing games on the Web to find out how to make a real difference in the world. Kids around the United States and in other countries are having a blast online as they learn about ways they may be able to help slow global warming.

Climate change, a shift in global temperatures, happens naturally. But in the past few decades, humans have been speeding up this process by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. We add CO2 to the air when we use electricity or go places in cars.

Carbon dioxide is called a "greenhouse gas" because it traps heat in the atmosphere – much like a greenhouse captures warmth inside it. The higher levels of CO2 are slowly but surely raising earth's average surface temperatures. This temperature increase is also known as global warming, and the consequences of the phenomenon will alter the world as we know it.

"We now know that by changing the atmosphere in that way, we're going to change the whole climate system of the whole earth, and that's going to affect billions of people," says G. Michael Purdy, who is the director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.

Scientists predict that global warming could affect the planet in several ways, including:

•Oceans could become more acidic because when CO2 dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid. The extra acidity would have an impact on most ocean life.

•Sea levels are likely to rise as ice in polar regions melts. The added water could, over several centuries, swamp coastal cities.

•Droughts, floods, hurricanes, and other storms may occur more often and could last longer or be stronger, some scientists say.

•Some of the habitats where animals live will change, and because of this, some species might become extinct.

If these changes occur, they won't be things we just watch on TV. They will affect everyone in ways we'll all notice.

"[Kids are] going to start seeing the impact on [their] own neighborhoods as weather patterns change," says Jorian Clarke, who is founder and president of the website KidsCom.com. "We've already seen in just the past two years floods and forest fires that impact kids [whose homes and neighborhoods were damaged]."

•Going green with technology

KidsCom.com gives kids an opportunity to learn more about climate change while playing games, taking care of a virtual pet, and making new friends. The site also has a virtual world where you can become an "Idea Seeker" and set out with your friends to planets in a virtual universe in a series of team challenges.

The next one will be about how another planet solved a water supply problem similar to Earth's.

The game that just finished was a "carbon cycle challenge." On the planet Sarillion, a grayish-yellow haze hung over the city of Kapokville. Participants had to do the research to discover the cause of the haze. Did new factories and skyrocketing population have something to do with it?

The three winners of this challenge (and their parents) got to hang out with Dr. Purdy and other scientists in New York City on Oct. 5 to 7. They went behind the scenes at the Earth Observatory's laboratories, got a special tour of the Bronx Zoo, and met with architects who design earth-friendly buildings.

But KidsCom.com isn't the only website where you can have fun and make a difference.

You can check out what kids in Canada and India are doing about climate change at Ecokids and Edugreen. The US Environmental Protection Agency has two kids' websites – one about the environment in general and one that's all about climate change. Both have games, interactive stories, and links to other interesting websites.

In addition to games, a website called "The Greens" has videos and even a blog about environmental issues.

Not only is the Internet a fun way to learn about global warming, but you can also use the technology to spread the word about it.

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