Kimmerer said she put this way of thinking to use when she came across a polluted local pond where birds would get stuck in the algae. She took care of the pond for 12 years by cleaning it and clearing it of algae. 

This type of caring becomes a cycle. Now the birds are thriving, and as the pond runs down to other ponds they benefit too. This is much different than the way we tend to treat the Earth and its resources by doing things like mining with no reciprocation.