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Coral reefs have traditionally been considered robust ecosystems, surviving unchanged over thousands of millennia, and rebounding after tremendous insults such as hurricanes and nuclear testing. Now we hear that we are facing a 'coral reef crisis', the notion that coral reefs are under increasing threat from a long list of threats, and face extinction unless humans check their behavior and curb fossil fuel burning. Can an entire ecosystem really go extinct in our lifetimes? Dr. Joan Kleypas provides an unbiased account of two aspects of climate change that are affecting coral reefs already: increasing temperature and ocean acidification. She also provides some more hopeful insights than the traditional 'the reefs are doomed' predictions.