A climate scientist from Stanford University said we all need a wake up call. That was his message at a forum at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Now the 16 groups in the Hawaii Conservation Alliance are looking for better ways protect the environment.

In a room full of scientists what they heard sounds almost unimaginable - coral reefs are in danger.

"If we continue burning coal, oil and gas the way we've been doing we're going to make the oceans too acidic for coral reefs to survive within a few decades," said Ken Caldeira, Climate Scientist with the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University.

Caldeira said when carbon dioxide goes into the ocean it forms carbonic acid which attacks the skeletons of coral reef.

"When we start losing the arctic eco systems, we lose coral reefs, we lose rainforests, we start to lose basic major pieces of the Earth, it's like the canary and the coal mine, that says we're doing something really wrong with this planet and we should wake up and think we should be better stewards," said Caldeira.

That being said, as the room full of very smart people listens to the dangers of climate change and releasing more emissions into the atmosphere, they still drink their coffee out of styrofoam cups and water out of plastic bottles.

Caldeira said real change needs to come from political leaders around the world, including the United States.

"Of course we should all use the efficient new light bulbs and be driving hybrids and better cars like that but little personal actions like that aren't going to do it. Most of the energy is coming from big transportation systems, big industrial systems and home heating, things like that," said Caldeira.

One of the reasons the Hawaii Conservation Alliance organized these talks is to discuss the solutions which at the moment no one seems to have.

"That's the big question, what do we do about it? It may require us to modify how and where we manage Hawaii's natural resources," said Steve Miller, US Fish & Wildlife Service.

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