Were we to enact many people’s wish to rid the world of wasps, any short-term gains felt from being able to picnic in peace would be more than outweighed by longer-term issues. Wasps are chronically overlooked pollinators, which shouldn’t be surprising when we consider that evolutionarily, a lineage of wasps gave rise to bees. They’re also free and very effective pest controllers. Parasitic wasps are specialist assassins and they’re already being deployed in agriculture; social wasps (including the stripey, familiar “nuisances”) are generalist predators and will take out aphids, caterpillars, moths and more. Together they present a formidable team, and all without a chemical in sight.