Forced Labor in the Building Material Supply Chain Mitigation Framework Draft

Thanks, Sara. That is very informative, and answers some of the more basic and intermediate questions I’ve had as we grapple with what modern slavery or coerced labor means. I would love to share this with others at LMN when it’s published. Our 2024 Sustainable Action Plan (nearly published) has us identify the top 10 materials we commonly use with highest potential for coerced labor and then develop ways to help designers avoid versions of those materials that contribute to the problem, or help designers find products with more equitable supply chains. But we have yet to find great resources on how to do this, so this is very helpful. -Kjell Kjell Anderson AIA, FAIA, LEED Fellow Principal, Director of Sustainable Design LMN Architects lmnarchitects.com M 206 812 6546 O 206 682 3460 S Linkedin | X | Instagram Fro

Sara, Contact: Nora Rizzo nrizzo@gracefarms.org I missed the Fika. We are also actively trying to address this issue – in our case via material selection processes & specs. Early days though, sharing attempts is of interest. Thanks, Dan Piselli, AIA, LEED AP, CPHD Director of Sustainability, Principal FXCollaborative Architects LLP D +1 646 292 8137 | T +1 212 627 1700 F

Sara, thank you so much for sharing! I've been thinking about your post for literal months because I think it is such an incredible resource and an amazing start, and I now finally have a couple minutes to jot down some thoughts, ask questions, and add to the discussion. 

As we strive for decarbonization and more electrification, I've been anxious about the resource extraction needed for energy storage - cobalt being one of them. I'm assuming many of us are aware of the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Repulic of the Congo and the child slave labor, sexual violence, mass displacement, etc. resulting from dangerous coltan and cobalt mining. I noticed that cobalt was not currently on the Tableu Public Interactive Tool and wondered if it has come up in your discussions? My anxiety may also be coming out of ignorance of what is/is not involved in building energy storage, so if that's the case, assurances are welcome. ;)

I was also curious if U.S. prison labor came up in your discussions. I am aware of extremely problematic labor conditions in some for-profit prisons, but I definitely haven't looked deeply into how it might vary across the country, so I was curious if your team has? 

Thanks again and great work!
Julie Braam
Associate, Healthy Interior Environments 
MHTN Architects 

This is really amazing work. Well done. This is the contact I have at Grace Farms: Brigid Abraham
Design for Freedom Project Manager  AIA, LEED GA, WELL AP, NOMA office 203.920.1797 babraham@gracefarms.org