claim: a new study by scientists at the Australian Research Council finds that the ongoing bleaching event is mainly due to human-caused global warming, and that if global warming proceeds as currently expected, “large parts” of the Great Barrier Reef could die by the mid-2030s.
evidence: Human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels ( coal, oil, and natural gas ), and secondarily the clearing of land, have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping ( greenhouse ) gases in the atmosphere...There is international scientific consensus that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.