Kelp forests are a wonderful underrated marine ecosystem that provides the earth with 70% of the earth’s oxygen supply, but despite that they have been declining in number at a freighting pace. While this might be known knowledge, the real question is what is causing the decline so bad? The answer is not so simple, it is not just one thing that is the villain in the story but an amalgamation of numerous factors affecting this important plant. It is a mixture of biological stressor but also physical and chemical. For the purposes of this article we will be extracting most of the data from Californian Kelp forests. The sea urchin is the main predator of kelp. They eat kelp’s holdfasts (which are the equivalent of the roots of kelp), and without that they float away. The urchin populations have exploded in recent times because of the decline of its main natural predator. The sunflower sea star is the main predator of sea urchins, but there was an event where many of them developed sea star wasting syndrome which nearly wiped out the sunflower sea star population, and because of this the urchin population exploded. However, the biological aspects are not the only factors that are impacting the kelp forests. In 2013 when the sea star wasting syndrome was ravaging the sea star population there was also a marine heatwave during an el nino which only exacerbated the stressors. The heat reduces kelp ability to grow and reduces their recruitment. While there are brewing solutions to this problem it is still important to remember how there is now an off switch and this will require a community effort to save kelp forests.