This is an aerial view of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef showing how many parts of this famous Reef have been damaged or killed over the years. For the second consecutive year, a dreaded and unprecedented new wave of mass bleaching has occurred here. Coral bleaching is the result of corals starving and dying due to ocean warming, turning “brown and white” in the process. Corals are the best indicators that our oceans are healthy and thriving. They help keep the sea clean, and provide habitats and shelter for many marine organisms (to just name some of the benefits of having them alive in the ocean). Corals are also important sources of new medicines that are being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s disease, viruses, and other diseases. Coral bleaching proves to us that global warming is real. We need to start (or continue) doing a better job of managing the Earth’s resources and reducing our carbon footprint so that we not only help save the coral reefs in the tropics, but all other regions around the globe as well!