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" AS AN URBANITE who chooses to ride the subway rather than drive my car, I&amp;#039;ve long been concerned about my carbon footprint. Little did I know that slavery, something I thought had been relegated to the history books, has a living footprint all its own. Thanks to a new website, I&amp;#039;ve discovered that some 35 forced laborers worldwide likely had a hand in producing the contents of my apartment. Those chilling statistics come courtesy of slaveryfootprint.org, developed by entrepreneur Justin Dillon with backing from the U.S. State Department. &amp;quot;With up to 27 million slaves in the world, and many working in mining and agriculture, they&amp;#039;re touching a lot of the goods that we use,&amp;quot; says Alison Kiehl Friedman, deputy director at the U.S. Department of State&amp;#039;s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Dillon explains the way the site works: Feed it information about your lifestyle and &amp;quot;an elaborate algorithm calculates where in the world the items were produced. A deep dive is then done on the condition of slavery in each of those areas.&amp;quot; (The website defines indentured servitude as &amp;quot;anyone who is forced to work without pay, being economically exploited and unable to walk away.&amp;quot;) To find my footprint, I combed through my apartment and added in my car. The worst offender was clothing: Many pieces were made in China, where human trafficking is pronounced. Out of my cosmetics and toiletries, the body wash had the biggest slavery footprint: It contained both coconut oil and soybeans, which are harvested in West Africa and Brazil, hot spots for trafficking. I wanted to swear off shopping. But boycotting is not on the site&amp;#039;s agenda. &amp;quot;Most businesses have no idea that their third-party suppliers are engaging in slavery,&amp;quot; says Dillon. Instead, the website hopes the news will spread via social media, and encourages people to download its &amp;quot;Free World&amp;quot; app, which lets you check in to stores like Best Buy and send a letter to different brands, calling for an investigation of their supply chains. You can also make a donation to Slavery Footprint or groups that aim to help enslaved laborers. According to Friedman, businesses &amp;quot;should be transparent about their practices.&amp;quot; As consumers, we can help make sure that happens.  Made by Slaves   Shoes: Leather from India is often procured by the forced labor of lower-caste workers. Fish: The Thai seafood industry thrives on the labor of Cambodian, Burmese, and Malaysian slaves. Cars: Many raw materials are mined in Democratic Republic of Congo, where forced labor is common. Nail polish: Silica in nail polish may be produced by laborers from China&amp;#039;s migrant population. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a7211/slavery-footprint/>