Out life-centred business commitments
The Life-centred Design Lab commits to evolve itself as a business entity to be less harmful and more regenerative
Using our privilege and value to regenerate and heal, the LCD Lab uses its products, percentage of profits, and channels to further foster the transition of modern design to be more sustainable, regenerative, and socially just by considering all peoples, all animals, and all planet.
Using the power we have, we support this goal with the following Commitments:
Our Commitments
1. Reducing Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL
My books are printed on-demand, rather than in bulk.
My books also include instructions on how to keep them maintained, repaired, and out of landfills.
2. Regenerating Resources
ENVIRONMENTAL
The LCD Lab uses profits to regenerate the trees cut down to make my books by donating to onetreeplanted.org↗
3. Reducing Carbon
ENVIRONMENTAL
The LCD Lab uses sustainable UX practices to reduce its website’s energy use and carbon footprint.
4. Nurturing Diversity
SOCIAL
The LCD Lab elevates the history of Indigenous sustainability, systems thinking, and regeneration in design conversations, presentations, and workshops.
5. Transparency
RESPONSIBLE
The LCD Lab holds itself accountable to its commitments by openly publishing its actions (see actions here).
6. Fostering Open-source
SOCIAL & RESPONSIBLE
The LCD Lab fosters open-source content by providing free content and tools with licenses to remix and reshare.
7. Supporting Initiatives
ENVIRONMENTAL & RESPONSIBLE
The LCD Lab supports various grassroots planetary initiatives through donations and/or its time.
Our Actions On Committments
Using profits from LCD Lab, I purchased Squares C4-1-0035 & C4-1-0036 in the Djarawong Rainforest Property of Queensland UNESCO World Heritage area, from Square By Square↗, to help safeguard this precious rainforest for a full decade.
In partnership with futurescouting.com.au↗, lifecentred.design donates from sales of printed books to onetreeplanted.org↗ to replenish the trees cut down to make paper for our books.
13/08/24 – Payment to onetreeplanted.org↗
(US$20/AUD$30)
31/01/24 – Payment to onetreeplanted.org↗
(US$47/AUD$73)
12/06/23 – Payment to onetreeplanted.org↗
(US$20/AUD$30)
15/11/22 – Payment to onetreeplanted.org↗
(US$20/AUD$30)
14/09/22 – Payment to onetreeplanted.org↗
(US$13/AUD$20)
May ’23 – Site Redesign
The Life-centred Design Guide and related information originally lived on futurescouting.com.au ↗ where it shared content with my other design book Future Scouting and all its related futuring content. Over time, the two practices became too big to share a site so I finally split them up.
This site was the resulting new, stand-alone site for life-centre design with average page loads 3X faster and a higher accessibility rating.
Oct ’22 – Sustainable Web Improvements
Using sustainable web guidelines, I made the following improvements to my home page, one of the highest traffic pages:
- Converted main PNG Logo (93KB/56KB) to an SVG (26KB)
- Reduced various image sizes
- Reduced use of a custom font to only headers
- Replaced light backgrounds with darker colours
- Removed a ‘subscribe’ plugin, swapping it for a button linking to another page where the plugin already existed
These changes resulted in an estimated:
- Reduction of carbon generated per visit from 403kg/yr to 20kg/yr
- 1 second increase in page load speed
Getting there with small steps!
Nov ’22 – Sustainable Digital Improvements
Using sustainable web guidelines, I made the following improvements to my home page:
- Implemented and tested an information carousel, then removed it due to lack of engagement and energy impact
- Identified and merged repetitive links/content
- Replaced images displayed by external URLs with self-hosted optimised and cached images
I also made the following improvements to my entire site:
- Switched to green hosting
- Improved caching
- Automatic file optimisation
- Lazy loading
These changes resulted in an estimated:
- A reduction of up to 2/3 less carbon generated per visit per page
- A reduction of up to 2/3 less energy used to load per page
Feb 2025 – $100 donation to SAVE WALLUM COASTAL HEADLANDS
Save Wallum is a community campaign dedicated to preventing the destruction of 30 hectares of rare coastal Wallum heath and woodlands in Brunswick Heads, Byron Shire, NSW, which is at risk due to a proposed housing development.
The area is not only culturally sacred, but also ecologically vital, being home to numerous endangered species, including 9 Federally listed threatened species, known as Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES); the land is likely critical habitat for 103 threatened species in total.
Save Wallum Inc. completed a significant Federal Court application for a permanent injunction under the EPBC Act (1999), which began in late February in Sydney. The Federal Court case challenges the legality of the proposed development under the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), as there are numerous matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) on the site. The court’s decision will be a defining moment, not only for Brunswick Heads, but for environmental protection across Australia.
Sep ’23 – $65 donation to Green Peace to support legal action for climate justice
Climate change is a threat to us all. But right now, Pacific communities are being hit hardest by the impact of the growing climate disaster – paying heavily for our fossil fuel addiction despite contributing the least to it.
Governments of big polluting countries are stalling, but we need action now. The Pacific is leading the fight for climate justice, taking government responsibility for climate change to the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice.
Greenpeace is working to document evidence of the impact of climate change on communities, amplify the voices of those most urgently impacted, and build an undeniable case for climate justice.
