Seated in your comfortable, climate-controlled office or apartment, you probably give little thought to the weather when donning your clothes in the morning. If it's raining, you might carry an umbrella or put on some galoshes; if it's snowing you might put on a hat and some mittens. Nothing too heavy or cumbersome, just enough clothing to keep you warm and dry on the well-worn path from your front door to your car or the subway tunnel. But suppose life were different. What if there were no cars, subway tunnels, or climate-controlled offices?

Well for many, life is different. Not everyone lives in the temperate zone (the two climatic zones between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle, and the Tropic of Capricorn and Antarctic Circle). Rather than altering our environment by living in a HVAC world, or by limiting our habitat to climates where it's a perfect 72ºF all year round, some of us have chosen to adapt to the environment. Human adaptability is an amazing thing, especially in the Canadian Arctic, where winter temperatures can reach lows of -76ºF (–60°C). There, it takes a lot more than a wool hat and mittens to keep warm.

Left: Jolique ready to battle the elements.

However, what is perhaps of greater concern to those living in this incredible environment, is not how to stay warm, but how to prevent the body from sweating due to too much warmth. "The insulation problem is dual," says one book on human adaptability. "[H]ow to provide for continued warmth and how to prevent overheating during periods of strenuous work [are important concerns]. If the latter problem is not properly solved, sweat-soaked or frozen insulated clothing results in a loss of its cold protection effectiveness." For non-natives, these concerns shouldn't be taken lightly, as this anecdote from the book, Our Boots: An Inuit Women's Art, demonstrates:

"[A] biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service [...] arrived in Grise Fiord in 1971, equipped with a pair of military mukluks and the latest in high-tech, down-filled clothing. He set out with two Inuit guides, Akpaleeapik and Ningyu, to study polar bear cubs, intending to stay out on the ice for month of March, the coldest time of the year. Two days after [he] left Grise Fiord, I met him on the sea ice. He was heading back to town. When I asked him why, he explained that his military mukluks were so heavy and cumbersome that every time he attempted to walk, he overexerted himself and sweated profusely. His body vapour and sweat then quickly froze inside his boots and clothing, creating frozen chain mail that immobilized him. Since he was living in igloos, he was unable to dry out his clothing, and every day another pound or so of ice was added to his garments. After Tataga and Attagusiak, the wives of the guides, made [him] a complete set of caribou skin clothing and footwear, he burned his military winter boots and down clothing to prevent anyone else from being foolish enough to use them."

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