{"id":365496,"date":"2025-02-09T09:42:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T08:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365496"},"modified":"2025-02-09T09:42:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T08:42:53","slug":"false-washington-post-climate-change-isnt-causing-a-rat-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365496","title":{"rendered":"False, Washington Post, Climate Change Isn\u2019t Causing a Rat Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


By Anthony Watts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0(WaPo) published an article claiming global warming is responsible for increasing rats’ populations in the world\u2019s major cities. This is false. Rats have always lived among and thrived with human populations. As cities have grown, so have urban rat populations, benefitting from mismanaged waste, ineffective pest control policies, and urban decay, none of which have anything to do with CO\u2082 levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WaPo\u2019s article, \u201cRats Are Thriving in Cities\u2014And Climate Change Is Helping Them\u201d<\/em><\/a>, blames global warming aka climate change for an increase in rat populations in major cities. Milder winters and warmer temperatures supposedly allow rats to breed more successfully, leading to more infestation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These claims are emblematic of the type of lazy journalism that has come to define mainstream media\u2019s reporting on environmental issues. Instead of investigating the real causes behind a problem identified by the author, WaPo shoehorns in climate change as an easy, politically useful scapegoat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real culprits responsible for the increase in urban rat populations are waste, policy failures, and urban decay \u2013 not climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles\u2014often cited as having worsening rat problems\u2014are dealing with fundamental urban failures that have nothing to do with global temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. Garbage Mismanagement<\/strong>: Rats thrive on available food sources, and city streets are littered with more garbage than ever. Many cities have either cut back on trash collection services or implemented \u201cgreen\u201d waste policies that unintentionally allow garbage to pile up. New York\u2019s rat population didn\u2019t explode because the planet warmed by a fraction of a degree\u2014it exploded because the city\u2019s population grew, and sanitation policies have not kept pace.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Regulations That Protect Pests<\/strong>: In an effort to be more \u201chumane,\u201d many cities have placed restrictions on rodenticides, making it harder to control rat populations. For example, California has banned certain types of rat poison, leading to an increase in rodent infestations. Again, this has nothing to do with climate but with misguided regulations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. COVID Lockdowns and Behavioral Changes<\/strong>: The increase in remote work, restaurant closures, and shifts in human activity disrupted food sources for rats, driving them to new areas. The pandemic had a far greater impact on rat behavior than any supposed climate effects, yet this major factor is absent from the WaPo\u2019s narrative.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Others have pointed to identifiable real-world factors that have contributed to rat populations expanding. For example, an article at Climate Change Dispatch, <\/em>titled \u201cAlarmist Study Blames Climate Change for Surge in Rats, Ignores Key Factors<\/a>,\u201d notes that experts have long recognized that rat populations fluctuate due to food availability and waste management\u2014not temperature shifts. Indeed rats populations flourished across Europe and in China during much cooler periods, for example, as ice packs began growing marking the beginning of the little ice age, with the rats bringing the black plague in their train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The WaPo article follows a predictable climate alarmism playbook formula: take an existing problem, and substitute climate change in place of the actual causes of the problem. This same template has been applied to nearly every issue and debunked on Climate Realism<\/em> \u2014crop failures<\/a>, mental health<\/a>, housing issues<\/a>, illegal immigration<\/a>, and now even rat infestations. By framing everything as a consequence of climate change, the media absolves policymakers of responsibility for their failures. Instead of holding local governments accountable for poor waste management or ineffective pest control, the Post\u2019s article conveniently shifts the blame to CO\u2082 emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Furthermore, the supposed link between warmer winters and rat populations is questionable at best. Rats have survived and thrived for centuries in a wide range of climates. As pointed out in Rats: Ultimate Survivors<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Believed to have roamed the earth with dinosaurs, rats have outlived several mass extinctions, an ice age, atomic bombs and meteors. Even their 75-million-year-old bite marks live on today in fossilized bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Furthermore, the supposed link between warmer winters and rat populations is questionable at best. Rats have survived and thrived for centuries in a wide range of climates. From frigid Moscow<\/a> to tropical Bangkok<\/a>, these rodents are highly adaptable. The idea that a slightly warmer winter in Chicago is the determining factor in rat population growth is pure speculation dressed up as science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This latest attempt to link climate change to urban rat infestations is yet another example of the decline in journalistic integrity at WaPo, sadly a growing problem for the mainstream media in general, especially when reporting on climate change. Rather than investigating the real causes of urban rodent problems \u2014 mismanagement, weak policies, and neglect \u2014 WaPo chose to push a climate change narrative lacking any basis in fact. This is not just bad reporting; it is deliberate misdirection. The public deserves better than climate hysteria masquerading as news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0(WaPo) published an article claiming global warming is responsible for increasing rats’ populations in the world\u2019s major cities. This is false. Rats have always lived among and thrived with human populations. As cities have grown, so have urban rat populations, benefitting from mismanaged waste, ineffective pest control policies, and urban decay, none of which have anything to do with CO\u2082 levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":365497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691818056,691819743,691833131,691833129,691818087,691833130,691822983],"class_list":{"0":"post-365496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-climate-propaganda","11":"tag-covid-lockdowns-and-behavioral-changes","12":"tag-garbage-mismanagement","13":"tag-global-warming","14":"tag-regulations-that-protect-pests","15":"tag-the-washington-post-wapo","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/00WaPo-rats-fakenews227844720.jpg?fit=1655%2C1104&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1x56","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":410029,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=410029","url_meta":{"origin":365496,"position":0},"title":"No, Washington Post, Climate Change Isn\u2019t Killing Washington, DC\u2019s Trees\u2014Urban Stress Is","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/24\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In The Washington Post\u2019s (WaPo) article, \u201cClimate change is coming for D.C.\u2019s trees, and the city won\u2019t look the same,\u201d the authors claim that climate change is killing off Washington, DC\u2019s tree canopy. 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While the article mentions other effects that contribute to the decline of the urban\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cclimate-tolerant\u201d trees\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cclimate-tolerant\u201d trees","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-tolerant-trees"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQNMLb_PnWL3p4KHbMFhXJKMUHGXd27PKsSESMsHra5ZaOufykIPj-szUqyCG9GmYjDfH0qsRJ8jUimRp4hfmcS1OBMZ0Rw6mQnxGHVPu3bF77vftPoaVdYlx4mMJ681-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C775&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQNMLb_PnWL3p4KHbMFhXJKMUHGXd27PKsSESMsHra5ZaOufykIPj-szUqyCG9GmYjDfH0qsRJ8jUimRp4hfmcS1OBMZ0Rw6mQnxGHVPu3bF77vftPoaVdYlx4mMJ681-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C775&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQNMLb_PnWL3p4KHbMFhXJKMUHGXd27PKsSESMsHra5ZaOufykIPj-szUqyCG9GmYjDfH0qsRJ8jUimRp4hfmcS1OBMZ0Rw6mQnxGHVPu3bF77vftPoaVdYlx4mMJ681-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C775&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQNMLb_PnWL3p4KHbMFhXJKMUHGXd27PKsSESMsHra5ZaOufykIPj-szUqyCG9GmYjDfH0qsRJ8jUimRp4hfmcS1OBMZ0Rw6mQnxGHVPu3bF77vftPoaVdYlx4mMJ681-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C775&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQNMLb_PnWL3p4KHbMFhXJKMUHGXd27PKsSESMsHra5ZaOufykIPj-szUqyCG9GmYjDfH0qsRJ8jUimRp4hfmcS1OBMZ0Rw6mQnxGHVPu3bF77vftPoaVdYlx4mMJ681-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C775&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":364344,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=364344","url_meta":{"origin":365496,"position":1},"title":"Study: Climate Change Causes Plagues of Rats","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"My question \u2013 if warmer temperatures cause more rats, why aren\u2019t the tropics permanently overrun with vermin? 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