KOSMOS LIVE Podcast | Ma’ikwe Ludwig on Intentional Community
KOSMOS LIVE PODCAST SERIES Preparing for Profound Change
This podcast series, Preparing for Profound Change, explores the shifting global landscape and offers strategies for coping with what lies ahead. Economic turmoil, climate chaos, political upheaval – these may seem like forces to fear, but in fact offer us deep opportunities for transformation.
Episode 6 – Ma’ikwe Ludwig on Intentional Community
Maikwe Ludwig is a longtime advocate of Cooperative Culture and locally, self-determined solutions to climate disruption. She serves on the board of directors at the Fellowship for Intentional Community, and is the Executive Director of Commonomics USA. She writes, teaches, and organizes from her home base in Laramie, Wyoming.
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“By my best estimate, after looking at a lot of data, I think that what is sustainable is probably about 10% of the consumption of your average American at this point. That means we need to come way down. That’s a 90% reduction in how your average American is living, in terms of the amount of resources consumed. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be terrible, and some sort of horrible Stone Age existence. There’s ways to do that and examples out there of doing that without it being a big deprivation trip.”
“I’ve lived in intentional communities now in Michigan, and Missouri, and New Mexico, and now we’re working on forming one in Laramie, and growing food is really, really different in all four of those places. You’re going to be looking at the same things, like how do we grow food? How do we support ourselves? Where does our water come from? How do we get our energy?”
“In a nutshell, the culture that we have in mainstream America, at this point, is one that really glorifies competition, and independence, and individuality. In fact, we’ve been measured, compared to a lot of other countries, and we’re actually the most individualistic culture in the world. Our schools, in a lot of ways, are kind of competition factories. We’re training our children, from a very young age in how to compete effectively. Partly because we are then launching them out into an economic system that’s very competitive. We really teach very little about sharing, and cooperation, and empathy.”
Links for this Podcast
Books by Ma’ikwe Ludwig
in Kosmos Journal
How to Start a Meal Sharing Co-op: An Excerpt from Together Resilient
Websites
Fellowship for Intentional Community
Referenced in this Podcast
Credits
Balancing a sober understanding of the of the collective challenges we face, with heart-centered response, calls for deep awakening by individuals, communities and societies. Our guests share their personal practices, strategies, and insights to help us manage our strong emotions and step forward to play positive proactive roles during these troubling times.
What skills, competencies and capacities will be most valued in the new world? How can our own inner practices keep us free from anxiety as we prepare body, mind and spirit for profound change? See other episodes in this series here.