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Protecting Coral Reefs Takes Center Stage At Miami Beach Climate Conference

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - Caring for and saving our coral reefs will take center stage Wednesday at the ongoing Aspen Climate Conference on Miami Beach.

The Miami group Coral Morphologic will take part in a panel discussion. They have been documenting coral reefs with stunning images and videos in hopes that people will be inspired to learn more about them and protect them.

One of their most popular projects is the Coral City Camera, which is positioned under the surface in Miami's Government Cut, a busy shipping channel in the "cruise capital of the world."

The live stream has already revealed that staghorn and other corals can adapt and thrive even in a highly urbanized undersea environment, along with 177 species of fish, dolphins, manatees, and other sea life.

The stream recently passed two million views and usually has about 100 viewers online at any given time each day.

Coral Morphologic co-founder Colin Foord will be taking part in the panel "The Ocean is a Climate Superhero." He said they really need to get the message out there that the reefs are vital and need our help.

"The real central goal that I have is to be able to communicate why coral reefs are important, what corals are, and utilizing the platform of art and storytelling, it's really central to being able to get out that message," he said.

Coral Morphologic's cameras have captured stunning images. To get the message out, they've put gorgeous closeups of underwater creatures on social media, set time-lapsed video of swaying, glowing coral to music and projected it onto buildings, they even sell a coral-themed beachwear line.

For those interested, they can watch the live stream of the day's events at aspenideas.org/.

(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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