1NME

Leaves are not garbage. The animals say this.

They insist that instead of "raking them up", humans should let the leaves rest and provide cover to those who need them.

Or, in times like these, all humans should play in great piles of them.

"With humans, everything is like the iceberg." The animals say this.

Chermuk the squirrel scratched this diagram out to illustrate.

"They see the smallest, most obvious piece of something and ignore the rest. Not the depth, nor weight, nor time behind what makes the thing meaningful.

"Take this diagram, for example.

"The human sees four crude lines. But it symbolizes a grand idea, drawn by a creature with an entire life story to tell, that exists because a trillion precarious conditions were just right to see it grow and mature.

"What hidden details do they miss in all things?"

The animals understand tears, but are frustrated at humans who don't make the obvious connection between burning dinosaur tar and more intense natural disasters.

One beaver opined, "If I built a lodge next to bear latrines, I wouldn't cry when the wind stinks more often. What did this human expect?"

This is probably why the animals are getting rude.