We’re long familiar with building and broadcasting footprints, and more recently we’ve been introduced to our carbon footprint. But a slavery footprint? That’s right, slavery.
It might not go on in our backyard, but the organizers of
SlaveryFootprint.org claim there are 27 million slaves worldwide – enough to match the combined population of Australia and New Zealand.
The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did its part toward freeing slaves in our country, but what about around the globe?
Could it be there is another type of slavery and another battle waging? If what this group claims is true, the new war on slavery is fought with our pocketbooks.
Oakland, Calif.-based Slavery Footprint points the finger squarely on the global supply chain for products we use, consume and dispose of every day.
Founded by musician-turned activist Justin Dillon on Sept. 22, 2011, with the launch of the site, the group asks the question: “How many slaves work for you?”
Gulp. A quick hint of guilt might be followed by denial.
But the rubber meets the road in an 11-question online survey that counts the children and size of our homes; the quantity of such items as bicycles, board games, stuffed animals and jeans; the number of appliances we run and vehicles we drive; and the amounts of almonds, blueberries and tilapia we consume and lipstick we apply. The point: They all have a footprint.
Back to the burning question. My family’s results: 71 slaves work for me and my family of five. The average individual score is 38.
Double gulp. Where? How?
I found my answer on the site: “It’s the supply chain, stupid.
“That’s where you find the slaves – in the fields, in the mines, in the raw materials processing,” the website reads.
As I took the test and studied the site, it’s clear the group is calling consumers to a higher degree of knowledge about, well, consumption. And help has come in from Google.org, which has thrown at least $1.8 million toward the mission.
Slavery Footprint is asking us not to only examine the brands we purchase but also the sourcing of the materials – the cotton in our T-shirts, the hard metal tantalum in our smartphones and the coffee beans to brew our morning joe. The organizers claim the reputable brands don’t even know where their materials come from.
A few staggering stats from the site: My button-up business shirt likely contains cotton picked by some 1.4 million Uzbekistan children who are forced to trade their school days for days in the fields; by comparison, there are fewer children in the New York City public school system. My smartphone has capacitors made from the mineral coltan likely from reserves in the Congo, where child laborers work from sunrise to sunset. My daily coffee is made of cocoa beans picked by an estimated 200,000 child slaves working along the Ivory Coast, where 40 percent of the world’s cocoa beans are harvested.
People from 200 countries have visited the site to learn their connection to modern-day slavery, organizers say.
Targeting this generation, the group is shouting this mantra: “Let’s get slavery out of our system.” Through activism, they hope enough voices would change the materials purchasing habits of companies around the globe.
The end goal: products with tags that read: “Made in A Free World.”
Now, that’s a New Year’s resolution worth something.
Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
