Hey everyone. This is Marjorie Alexander, host of A Sustainable Mind. Today's show is going to be a little bit different than what you're usually hearing from us.

Every once in a while, there is an interview where we have a little bit too much fun, and we don't want to edit the heck out of it because we actually tackle some really difficult issues.

We don't want to take anything away from that. This is one of those episodes. I'm affectionately calling them

a sustainable mind unplugged. Do be advised because there is explicit language that is used in this

episode, so if you have children, or if that's just not your thing, consider yourself warned.

This is A Sustainable Mind, episode 8. This is A Sustainable Mind podcast, where we delve into the minds behind today's most impactful

environmental campaigns, organizations, and startups, inspiring the environmental changemakers

of tomorrow. I'm your host, Marjorie Alexander. Today, I am very excited to have on show, Maiquet Ludwig. Maiquet is the executive

director of Dancing Rabbit Eco Village in northern Missouri, and she also sits on the board of directors for the Fellowship for Intentional Community. With a long history of being involved in this work, she is well known for candidly discussing the blessings

and the challenges of living in an intentional community. You might have witnessed this if you've

ever seen her entertaining and informative TEDx talk. So, Maikwe, without further ado, I'd really

like to jump right in here because we've got so much to cover. Cool. Why don't you talk a little

bit about your childhood growing up and how sustainability or earth-conscious living played a part in your early life?

I think there's two big pieces to that. One is that my dad is an ecologist, and so I grew up with somebody who was out in the field doing direct research

and who was mostly focused on toxic chemical effects research in the Great Lakes. And so my

childhood was a little like a biology lab following this kind of brilliant scientist around and

working with bird populations in the Great Lakes and looking at the effects

that all of the toxic chemicals that had been dumped into the Great Lakes in the 60s and 70s and

80s and how they were actually affecting bird populations.

And so I started out with pretty strong consciousness around ecological issues.

And I also had a childhood, partly because of that work

following my dad around and partly because we just lived in rural areas, my whole childhood,

...