What Can We Do To Save The Insects? Build Solar Arrays

New data indicates the ongoing collapse of insect populations around the world. We’ve known for a while that widespread use of pesticides and fertilizers, light and chemical pollution, loss of habitat, and the growth of industrial agriculture have contributed to loss of entire populations of insects.

But what about areas that aren’t touched by human “civilization?” These are supposedly protected regions of forest. They, too, are experiencing loss — and it’s due to climate change, which is emerging as a major threat to insect populations. As these environments dry out while the climate warms, most species simply can’t cope, so they die off.

Insects play key ecological roles. They are critical to the survival of countless other species, determinants of the distribution and abundance of innumerable plants and animals, and consumers of waste products. We need to protect them.

What’s The Problem With Insects, Anyway?

A steady decline of insects had been estimated to be 2% per year. Combining data from 35 citizen science programs across the continental US, a 2025 survey found declines in overall butterfly abundance over the past 20 years across almost all major regions. Two-thirds of studied species showed declines of more than 10%.

Habitat loss and pesticide use were identified as the original causes. Now climate change has altered natural rhythms and attacked the choreographed dances of creatures within ecosystems.

As climate activist Bill McKibben explains, “Each element is delicately tuned and interlocks with the rest: the heat, the humidity, the rainfall, the unfolding of leaves, the length of the seasons, the start and stop of the life cycles of insects and animals.” Each of those ingredients triggers a chain reaction in the rest of the system, to the degree that “insects and animals have evolved to time their hibernations and breeding times precisely to small signals from the system: a change in humidity, a lengthening of the light hours of the day, a small rise or fall in temperature.”

At a time when the news about insects and their habitats seems dismal, research is being foregrounded that describes how solar arrays — yes, those oft maligned tools of renewable energy — actually often a safe haven for not only insects but birds, mammals, and other creatures.

Wide sunny strips between module rows increase the density of species and individuals, as documented in the colonization by insects, reptiles, and breeding birds. It starts with the sheep that chomp on a constantly blooming assortment of wild plants below the array. The sheep poop and attract insects, which thrive and pollinate the plants.

Birds learn of the insect bounty, and eventually solar parks provide habitats for endangered animals — better ones than the surrounding agricultural land. That’s so important, as almost a third of US birds – about 3 billion – have disappeared from the skies since the 1970s. The losses, however, were not evenly distributed: those birds that ate insects as their main food had declined by 2.9 billion.

It’s also helpful that few humans visit the solar arrays, so the terrain is unaffected by footprints, pesticides, or litter.

Research done at the Argonne National Laboratory Agrivoltaics focuses on the combination of solar energy production with agricultural and vegetation management practices. One type of agrivoltaics focuses on the establishment of habitat for insect pollinators and other wildlife that can provide important ecosystem services, such as pollination. Pairing solar energy facilities on previously disturbed lands with habitat enhancement sounds like a logical win-win strategy to address energy and biodiversity challenges.

With solar arrays and accompanying wildflower meadows, no longer is a monoculture of grass or a single crop sterilizing the field. If you think a corn field must be good for insects, think again. As McKibben explains, “A corn field is a biological desert—basically there are no pollinators there at all (corn is self-pollinating) because they are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.” He adds that the thirty million acres of cornfield in the US used for ethanol only provide about 1% of our energy needs. The same number of acres, if covered in solar panels, “would provide all the power the country requires.”

This is an obvious benefit that we often fail to mention about insects and solar arrays. Solar is renewable energy and scaleable; it is a clean way to mitigate climate change, which is at the heart of insect decline to begin with.

How Can We Create Other Insect-Friendly Habitats?

Many insects have the potential for rapid population growth and recovery, but habitat restoration, species-specific interventions, and reducing pesticide use are all likely needed to curb population declines. With increased awareness of the problems that pollinators face, you’d think that drastic changes would be legislated on a global scale to halt their decline. In fact, the opposite is actually the case.

That means it’s up to us to protect insects. Solar arrays are one solution to inspire insect health and vitality. We can also implement changes to our everyday lives that can help. Sure, some will take a cultural shift, but sustaining pollinators is worth it.

Reverse land-use change. Restoring the wildflower-rich meadows, and managing those that still exist, could help reconnect the patchwork of protected habitat that has survived. Britain’s King Charles III supports the effort. He’s such an advocate, in fact, that he has dedicated part of his Sandringham Estate as a model of what can happen when formerly cultivated lands are restored to their original, natural state. It’s an expensive financial commitment that is dedicated to reestablishing human co-existence with the natural world.

Replace pesticides with more sustainable crop-growing practices. We need to provide every consumer with food that doesn’t contain pesticide residues. We should protect agricultural workers and communities of color from exposure to agricultural pesticides.

Convert lawns into diverse natural habitats with native plants. Growing an earth-friendly yard eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers, improves soil quality, and prevents erosion – all while creating a native habitat for the birds and the bees.

Plant an insect-friendly habitat. The University of Connecticut outlines that a friendly habitat used by pollinators and other insects for shelter includes stems and branches of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers; leaf litter; bare ground; dead wood; and brush piles. UConn recommends keeping as many of these features as possible in your landscape — rather than taking them away — to attract and support a variety of bees and other beneficial insects.

Shift yard water runoff so it can be absorbed. Green infrastructure — green roofs, permeable pavement, bioswales, rainwater harvesting, green streets, stormwater parks, and conservation areas — can effectively address stormwater pollution and mitigate flooding, while at the same time providing open space for recreation, habitat, improved air quality, climate resiliency, and aesthetic benefits.

Counter the bad rap that insects get. Start with education in schools, and help kids understand how important insects are. Talk to neighbors about the importance of insects in the larger scheme of healthy ecosystems. Advocate for insect conservation whenever community landscaping projects are in design stages so that monocultures are out and sustainable practices become the norm.