You can help protect coral reefs, too. Climate change poses a fundamental threat to coral reefs. Simple steps such as carpooling to work or using mass transit can help reduce your carbon footprint and protect these vibrant ecosystems.

Coral bleaching matters because once these corals die, reefs rarely come back. With few corals surviving, they struggle to reproduce, and entire reef ecosystems, on which people and wildlife depend, deteriorate.

Bleaching also matters because it’s not an isolated phenomenon. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, between 2014 and 2017 around 75% of the world’s tropical coral reefs experienced heat-stress severe enough to trigger bleaching. For 30% of the world’s reefs, that heat-stress was enough to kill coral.