LEADlab Futures - Biodegradables

Biodegradables

Complex and Broken Systems

Ecological Conversion

Reconciling with Creation

Seeking New Paths

The Team

Complex and Broken Systems

Mining is both a lifeline and a threat. Vast mineral wealth is essential to global supply chains for electronics and green technologies. Yet this wealth often translates into ecological ruin and deepens inequality. In the Philippines, over 60% of large-scale mines are in ancestral lands. In Indonesia, the surge in nickel mining for electric vehicles has led to deforestation and hazardous waste dumping in coastal waters. In Myanmar, jade and rare earth mining fuel corruption and conflict. These patterns are not just isolated failures. They are signs of a broken industry that extracts value all while leaving behind a trail of generation-injuring damage. The people whose lands are mined often remain among the poorest, while the profits flow outwards.

Economic growth is entangled with mining, but who really benefits from it?

Ecological Conversion

We envision a world where leaders value land as sacred, not expendable and who act with justice, accountability, and care. Our mission is to engage in dialogues to reconcile mining practices and environmental preservation. We are guided by our commitment, responsibility and creativity.

How do you envision the future of mining?What do you think your role is in shaping this future? What personal values can help you in your role? What must you unlearn to lead ethically in a region rich in minerals but scarred by greed?

Reconciling with Creation

We envision a world where technological innovation does not equate to environmental degradation.

What if we no longer need to tear the Earth apart to power our lives? Which future would you choose: extraction and exhaustion or restoration and responsibility?

Seeking New Paths

Our main strategy is centered around us being arbiters of inclusive dialogue in pursuit of achieving harmony between people, industry, and environment.

Can we shift from extraction to regeneration? What policies, technologies, and collective actions will lead us towards a greener and more ethical mining industry?