In the Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.35, there is a description of Krishna in his Gopala (cowherd) form playing his flute to call the cows. When he does this the waters of the nearby river are frozen in ecstasy at the beautiful sound, and the forest creatures simultaneously close their eyes and fall into a meditative trance. The hooved animals pause in their chewing and are so still as they strain to listen to every note of the flute song that they appear as animals in a painting. According to Vedic scholar Srivatsa Goswami, Krishna's many pastimes focus on provincial and simple pleasures, such as teasing the milk maidens as they churn butter, or dancing with the peacocks, or throwing flower petals at his cowherd friends. When Vaisnavas engage in festivals they are honoring these pastimes that occurred in Vrindaban, when Krishna took the form of a simple cowherd boy who loved being in nature, and was loved by all of the beings of the forests of Vrindaban.
Likewise, the Vedic tradition of Vaisnavas believe all living beings, even individual blades of grass, to be souls made of sat-chid-ananda, and therefore harming any creature in the natural world would be the same as harming one's family member or friend. The Earth itself is in fact a living being in Vedic tradition. She is the Goddess Bhumi Loka, and she has a soul just as the living entities in the flowers and animals and humans and microbes do. To harm Bhumi is a terrible offense to Krishna, so those who celebrate the festivals of Krishna instead try to live in harmony with all of the other souls engaged in material incarnations.
