ANCESTRAL WISDOM · ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Last reviewed and updated: November 7, 2026
Our ancestors did not separate caring for people from caring for land and animals. Here, “raising your vibration” does not mean a measurable frequency. It means tuning your daily life to your relationships with the soil, the trees, the creatures near you, and the people around you. These eight practices are a place to start if you want to learn how to coexist with wildlife. Where the research supports a point, I link it. The rest comes from my own life and from Ubuntu: I am because we are.
1. Spend time outside
Get outside and get moving. In Nurtured by nature, the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology reports on a study of nearly 20,000 adults in the United Kingdom. It linked at least two hours a week in nature to significantly better health and wellbeing, whether that time came in one visit or in several. A large Danish study in the same article found that children who grew up near more green space had a lower risk of many psychiatric disorders as adults. Much of this research shows association, not proof of cause, but it points the same way our elders always did.
2. Plant native plants for wildlife
The National Wildlife Federation explains in Plant Native that plants form the base of nearly all food webs. Wildlife needs four things: food, water, cover, and places to raise young. Native plants supply them for the animals that live where you live. Even a small yard, a balcony pot, or a community garden plot can become part of a corridor. Look up which species are native to your area before you buy, so you know what they will look like grown and who they might feed.
3. Plant trees
Trees offer shade, beauty, shelter, and sometimes fruit or nuts to harvest as a family. The Arbor Day Foundation’s page on the environmental impact of trees says trees pull carbon from the air and describes forests as one part of the answer to climate change, not the whole of it. Buy seedlings from a reputable nursery, choose species native to your area, and give them room to grow. Planting trees is also one of the simplest ways to coexist with wildlife, since a tree is a home before it is anything else.
4. Grow some of your own food
Growing food instead of lawn, even a little, brings you back into relationship with the land. It gives you more say in what goes into your body, and it keeps your hands in the soil, where the lessons are. Start with herbs on a windowsill or a few tomato plants. Skip the chemicals in your yard and garden, and leave some corners wild for the pollinators and birds who share the space.
Caring for the land and caring for each other are one practice. Help Ubuntu Village keep it going with communities in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.
GIVE TO THE VILLAGE5. Make your own cleaners
I make most of my own cleaners from baking soda and white vinegar or lemon juice. It keeps harsh chemicals out of our home and out of the water that eventually leaves it. When I do buy a product, I read the back of the bottle and look for words like plant-derived, plant-based, biodegradable, cruelty-free, and GMO-free. It is a small habit, and small habits are how a household changes.
6. Move more gently
Look for energy-efficient appliances when yours need replacing. Choose bicycles or public transit when you can. Combine errands so you drive less. None of this is a verdict on anyone who needs a car. It is a practice of asking, each time, whether there is a lighter way to get where you are going.
7. Find your people
It is easy to feel powerless in the face of the environmental crisis, and that is exactly why we need each other. Join a community garden, a neighborhood cleanup, a native plant swap, or a local conservation group. Ubuntu teaches that a person is a person through other people, and animals that live in families and communities show us the same truth. We explore that in The Hidden Wisdom of Animals. Many African traditions also understand animals as teachers and guides, which we cover in Spirit Animals, Totems, and Ancestral Guides.
8. Laugh often
Laughter is free and needs no equipment. Mayo Clinic’s page on stress relief from laughter says a good laugh increases your intake of oxygen-rich air and stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles. It says laughter can fire up and then cool down your stress response, and that over time it may help ease pain and improve mood. It is one strategy, not a cure. All you need is a sense of humor and the willingness to laugh at yourself now and then.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this post it means tuning your daily choices to your relationships with land, animals and people, in the spirit of Ubuntu. It is a spiritual and cultural idea, not a measurable frequency, and it does not replace medical or mental health care.
A UK study of nearly 20,000 adults, reported by the American Psychological Association, linked at least two hours a week in nature to better health and wellbeing. The time could come in one visit or several. The research shows association, not proof of cause.
Yes. The National Wildlife Federation explains that plants form the base of nearly all food webs, and that wildlife needs food, water, cover and places to raise young. Native plants supply those needs for local animals.
The Arbor Day Foundation says trees pull carbon from the air and describes forests as part of the solution. Planting trees helps, but it works alongside other changes and does not replace them.
Mayo Clinic says laughter increases oxygen intake and stimulates the heart, lungs and muscles, and that it can fire up and then cool down the stress response. Over time it may help ease pain and improve mood. It is one strategy among many, not a cure.
Community is the medicine.
When we tend the land and each other, the whole village is lifted. Ubuntu Village works at the intersection of personal healing and collective liberation, because our ancestors knew these were never separate. Partner with us in this work.
Partner With UsIf one of these practices spoke to you, share it with someone who loves a garden, a tree, or the birds outside their window.
Sources
- Nurtured by nature, Kirsten Weir, Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2020
- Plant Native, National Wildlife Federation
- Environmental Impact of Trees, Arbor Day Foundation
- Stress relief from laughter? It’s no joke, Mayo Clinic Staff, Mayo Clinic, 2026
Related Reading
- The Hidden Wisdom of Animals: What They Can Teach Us About Nature, Ourselves, and Spirituality
- Spirit Animals, Totems, and Ancestral Guides: Animal Wisdom Across African Traditions
- Why I Love My Plants: The Benefits of Having Indoor Greenery
Michele Mitchell is the Founder, President & CEO of Ubuntu Village Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with programs in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria. A writer, advocate, and community strategist working at the intersection of ancestral wisdom, public health, and community power, Michele leads Ubuntu Village’s work to center communities as the protagonists of their own healing. She writes from the conviction that science and spirit are complementary, that healing is relational, and that community is the medicine. Read more about Michele, or connect with her on LinkedIn.