I am the toad sitting upon a lump of coal by the dead tree in the woods; you ignored me as you walked by my pond. The world is turned upside down with her guts strewn about while the bowels of hell poison the atmosphere and threaten the very existence of us toads. How did things get this way? I can tell you most assuredly that it wasn’t from us amphibians; it wasn’t the insects, nor the birds, squirrels, or even the bears, that caused this topsy-turvy reordering of nature. It was humankind; it was your species.

My ancestors and I have croaked on countless evenings long before the appearance of any of the hairy, two-legged mammals. Matter of fact we trace our origins back to ancient wetlands when the earth was a far different place about 370 million years ago, and amphibians ruled. Of course, we didn’t appear then as we do now; while our lineage is from early amphibians, it wouldn’t be until 265 million years ago that the “mother toad” first appeared. We were here before the dinosaurs and survived as they disappeared. It was 55 million years ago that the first apes appeared, and then a mere 6 million years ago, the hominids started trekking over the land with their bipedal gait.

Through this passage of time immemorial, as evening falls, we bellow out a croak, assuring the other creatures that we are on watch over the night, waiting for the sun to return. We are the sentries that allow the rest of life to sleep securely while our star remains out of sight. We transition from our night lullaby to morning song, signaling to the other animals where freshwater has been accumulating. Our existence assures everything else that the water is healthy and that the balance of things is in check. If you no longer hear or see us, you yourself will already be long gone.

Let me explain why I’m here; I’ve been asked to communicate something with you that the toad community isn’t sure you can understand. I am the spokesvoice for the order of Anura in the family of Bufonidae, with a knowledge greater than your primitive thoughts allow. We know that you cannot see or comprehend anything that looks like truth yet, as your species is far too young.

You might ask why, after emerging from our earliest amphibious roots, we never took to further evolution and instead hunkered down and remained frogs and toads. After 13 million years of existence, a cataclysm was happening on Earth where an impact at the Wilkes Land crater caused the antipodal discharge of volcanic material at the Siberian Traps. This was the moment in history when the extinction of nearly 95% of marine life and about 70% of terrestrial life on Earth began. We were witnessing 350 million years of multicellular evolution coming to a screeching halt.

Yes, we survived where others perished. Shortly after this Permian extinction, the dinosaurs rose up to become our neighbors. Although they survived for 179 million years, it was an asteroid impact on Earth that would ruin their day. Again, we were on hand for another mass extinction where, this time, only 75% of life was going away. When the dust settled, the continent of Pangaea was a distant memory and had broken up into many parts. On all of them except Antarctica, the frogs and toads lived on to sing and bellow another day.

It was only 200,000 years ago that your species started walking on our lands. It has only taken you a little more than 200 years to create a situation where the writing scrawled on the wall suggests that you are intent on bringing on another extinction. We know that our kind will survive, but we also know that if you do not mend your ways, you will not be around to see us once again rule the planet that you believe you have divine rights to.

We live at the water’s edge, coming out at night to sing our songs. Our eyes can detect a single photon, and so to us, the night sky is a riot of light emerging out of history; our version of the movies is found in the beauty all around us, emanating from all points in the universe. Our food, air, and water are all free. We live in a symbiotic ecosystem that gives and takes. Some of us can live for many decades and never feel indebted to anyone or anything that allowed for our existence. We are not beholden or frightened by anything as we have known our place here on Earth for 100’s of millions of years. So you should ask yourselves, what really makes you so smart in your servitude and indebtedness?

You are afraid of your own place here. You cannot be sure of your continued survival due to your violent tendencies. You have created mythologies that you hope will help you cope with so much uncertainty, but you are deeply fearful of the unknown and the stranger. You fight one another in war and strive to destroy all that is wild. Instead of working with your skills, you are ignoring that your kind is intentionally despoiling the Earth in much the same way as mindless asteroids that accidentally crashed into our planet did so very long ago.

Your ignorance seems programmed to end your reign after only 200,000 years among us. Your disappearance portends great things for the kingdom of Anura as we will once again have the front row seats to watching what comes next while enjoying the wetlands of our planet’s return to health and our skies clear of the smoke of your fires.