If you have ever seen "Finding Nemo," you may have a picture in your mind of a beautiful coral reef, one that is full of life and beautiful colors. This is what coral reefs are supposed to look like. Sadly, not many look like this anymore.

Coral reefs do a lot more than we realize to help the ocean. They are homes to about 25 percent of the marine life on the planet. They also provide food and protection. If coral reefs don’t exist, all of the sea creatures will no longer have a place to live.

Global warming can be blamed for a good amount of the damage to coral reefs. As temperatures around the world get warmer, ice from the northernmost parts of the oceans begin to melt, the sea level rises, causing drastic changes in water temperature, depth and currents. These changes can destroy coral reefs. According to an article published on globalissues.org, 20 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed and they show no signs of recovering anytime soon. Although global warming can't be fixed with the flip of a switch, there are some things we can do to try and save them.

What are we doing to hurt coral reefs? The answer is a lot. Many people don’t realize they are harming coral reefs by littering. It is not really that hard to put something in the trash, especially if you are at the beach. That water bottle you were too lazy to throw away could easily be swept up by a current and end up plowing through a reef like a tornado.

Another way we can stop hurting coral reefs is to respect them. When you go scuba diving, don’t break off parts of the reef to take home because you think they are pretty. Those pretty colors are present because the coral is alive. When the coral is taken away from the reef, it dies and the beautiful color that drew you to the coral in the first place will be gone. On that note, don’t even touch the coral reefs. Yes, I know coral reefs are beautiful and the first thing you may want to do when you see them is to touch it, but the reefs are there to serve a purpose. Any little interference from the outside world can interrupt the natural flow of the underwater ecosystem. One slight interruption within an ecosystem can cause a domino effect and cause even more problems down the road.

Although these changes may seem fairly small, they can end up making a big difference. Something as simple as acknowledging global warming can be a huge step in the right direction. As Leonardo DiCaprio said in his 2016 Oscar acceptance speech, “Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating…Let us not take this planet for granted.”