Saving Coral Reefs: A Race Against Time

Coral reefs cover less than one percent of the ocean but hold 30 percent of all marine species.

They're basically underwater cities built by tiny animals over millions of years.

But here's the problem. When water heats up just half a degree, corals kick out their algae roommates

and turn completely white. This is bleaching. Those algae were providing up to

95 percent of the coral's food through photosynthesis. Without them, the coral starves

in weeks. It's like your body rejecting its own stomach during stress. Since the 1980s,

we've already lost 19 percent of reefs globally. The ocean is also becoming more acidic

from absorbing excess carbon dioxide, which literally dissolves coral skeletons while