Have Ants in Your Pants to Fight Climate Change? Good, They Just Might Help Us Win!

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Here they are, ready to crawl!? Hope I'm not making too much of a mountain out of an anthill, but ants may be among our best friends, albeit our smallest.

First, like us, they’re social creatures dependent upon one another for survival.? They carry their dead to a resting place, which may not be as final as ours, for if a food shortage comes, they just might fill in. ?

Deceased ants also can help build battalions as they continue to release the chemical, oleic acid, which recruits other ants.

Eventually their removal prevents contamination, keeping the colony and queen healthy.

All this was news to me.? I just thought ants were a pain in the a__.? Then I happened upon an article that antracted me to know more about the little critters, like they’re being a secret weapon in agriculture’s climate fight.?

Why didn’t I know this!? I’m creator of Planetary Lifeguard antsy to blow the whistle on climate change.

So, are ants really our allies?? Do we owe the little critters a huge thank you or thant you?

Looks like we do, as I’m learning ants can protect apples, nuts, cocoa, and other beloved crops from disease and climate change. ?That’s antithetical to what I always had thought as I would see them forming military-like lines toward a breakfast crumb on the floor of my balcony.

Now I’m reading how they scurry along on their six nimble legs to catch up to their peers in a line of antennaed bugs roaming trees, perpetually hunting for food.

And while doing this, each ant leaves antibiotic microorganisms secreted from, of all places, their feet!? And that trail of tiny footprints, indiscernible to the naked eye, is remarkably effective at protecting trees and valuable crops from pathogens and pests. ?Thant you!

That makes ants almost saints in the eyes of knowledgeable people who see them as legions of friendly warriors.? Maybe we should enlist them in the fight to grow more food in a warming world.

Some biologists liken ants to Swiss Army knives as they’re a multitool for farmers.?

Some Unfriendly

Of an estimated?20 quadrillion of them crawling on earth occupying territory just about everywhere, not all of them are law abiding.? So be careful what ants you befriend, recruit or hang out with.? ?

Watch out for a significant population of invasive red fire ants, some discovered in Sicily, raise concerns climate change can spur them to spread across Europe.?

On the plus side, ants aren’t political.? You’ll find them in both red and blue states, most are friendly, harmless and helpful to both Republicans and Democrats.

They’re also among the species that we humans, whom they outnumber 2.5 million to one, have the most in common with, like their intelligence.

Ant colonies weave robust community networks assigning divisions of labor, some waging war with one another, others building complex agricultural systems.?

Ants have similar problems and challenges as humans, but scientists say luckily for us, they find solutions just as our farmers do on how to grow food while confronting climate-warming consequences such as spreading plant pathogens.?

It’s estimated that plant diseases cost the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year, with between?20 to 40 percent of global crop production?lost to crop diseases and pests. ?Climate change ramps up risks?by morphing how pathogens evolve, facilitating the emergence of new strains, and?making crops more susceptible to infection.

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Unfriendly pesticides

Unfortunately, instead of ants, most farmers and growers rely on chemical pesticides, but that creates problems of their own. Synthetic pesticides not only can be?harmful to humans and animals, but they lose their efficacy as pathogens?build up resistance to them.

Then there’s the synergistic effect as production and use of synthetic pesticides worsen climate as some are derived from planet-warming fossil fuels.?So, instead of chemicals, may there come an army of ants to the rescue.

Thankfully battalions of them are being deployed in orchards in several countries to stave off the spread of crippling infestation and disease.?

So, let’s hear it for ants and the crafty farmers relying upon them.? Let’s give ants and their purifying paws some applause!?

Tom Madden has ants in his pants for you to read his weekly blog and books, including his latest, Planetary Lifeguard, Blowing the Whistle on Climate Change. When not writing, he’s applauding clients of his public relations firm, TransMedia Group, antsy for publicity its press releases deliver.? He started the firm 40+ years ago when he left NBC, where he was VP, Assistant to the President, having come from ABC where he had risen from a lowly ant position to Director of PR Planning.?