Are you making any New Year’s resolutions for 2008? New Year’s resolutions are often hard to keep but my first one is easy and green: Stop drinking wine out of leaded crystal stemware. This won’t be too hard, as many of our crystal wine glasses have broken over the years. When I looked at replacing them, the fact that they contained lead made me stop and think. Is there a health risk? Is there a better alternative?

Lead Hangover

News stories in 2007 about lead paint in children’s toys have brought the problem into the popular consciousness. But lead is a nasty environmental hangover that’s been around for generations. It’s worrisome because it can cause serious health damage including brain damage and learning disabilities. For decades, starting as early as 1900 and continuing into the 1950′s, lead was used in plumbing, gasoline and paint. Lead contamination can come from many sources including common household dust. A recent news article on lead contamination from house dust, reports that it’s a potential health hazard that scientists are only beginning to understand. (My New Year’s Resolution #2: Dust and vacuum frequently may be harder to keep but it will make our home more healthy and that is very green.)

If you’re not familiar with the many adverse health effects of lead check outTheFirst6Years. It focuses on the dangers to children from lead exposure in the home.. It reports that, “Lead poisoning causes subtle, yet serious, effects in children and exerts an enormous economic burden on society, costing billions of dollars in reduced IQ, lost earning potential, special education requirements, and criminal justice measures (Davies, 2005; Korfmacher, 2003; Muir & Zegarac, 2001).

Does leaded crystal pose a health risk?

Experts seem to agree that while the danger is small if the wine is consumed over a short space of time (such as a dinner) trace amounts of lead do leach into beverages, especially white wine, and that wine should never be stored in leaded crystal.

“It is probably safe to have wine with dinner from your glasses, though varying trace amounts of lead do leach out of lead crystal, as a Columbia University study found in 1991. Those researchers estimated that the lead released in the course of a meal posed a negligible risk... However, there is a more than negligible danger when liquor, wine or other acidic liquids like fruit juice are stored in a lead crystal carafe or decanter. The lead released builds up over time and can reach 100 times the allowable level after weeks or months, Canadian researchers said. Therefore experts almost universally warn against using lead crystal for storing wine, liquor or any acidic beverage… Experts suggest that pregnant women and children take extra care to avoid possible lead exposure, like avoiding daily use of lead crystal and ceramic mugs, especially for hot beverages.” The New York Times

An alternative to leaded crystal?

We won’t be throwing out all of our lead crystal glasses in 2008 — but we won’t be adding any either. The alternative for us — although I still have questions — are breathable wine glasses which look beautiful, are an affordable luxury, and according to some oenophiles improve the taste of the wine. Currently this new breathable technology is proprietary and is only produced by one company, Eisch in Germany: “Breathable Glasses are made from a special raw material mixture in lead-free crystal glass quality. After the actual manufacturing process, the glasses undergo an oxygenising treatment which gives the Breathable Glasses its unique properties. A wine poured into a Breathable Glass for just 2 to 4 minutes will show signs of aeration equivalent to the same wine that has been decanted and aerated for 1 to 2 hours. This fully natural process takes place within the wine itself, just in minutes. The original character and structure of the wine are preserved, yet the wine’s aroma and palate impression become more open and generous, just as they would with an hour or more of aeration.”

I’m pleased to discover an innovative product which allows us to discontinue use of traditional leaded crystal but I would like to know more about the ‘fully natural process’ they refer to. Ariel Fenster, a university reviewer puts forward his theory, “I would very much like to discover the technique used to produce these glasses. It is of course a secret but the company mentions …’a proprietary oxygenation treatment”. It is possibly the same type of phenomenon found in sport clothes made out of ‘Gore-Tex’ which also ‘breathe’.”

Fenster’s natural curiosity segues nicely into my New Year’s Resolution #3: Look for innovative green products and ask questions. Don’t take manufacturer’s claims at face value! Manufacturers should be disclosing their processes and materials — so we can fairly judge whether the product is truly green and truly healthy. We don’t want to get bitten by another ‘lead bug’ twenty years down the road. But it’s up to us to get full disclosure to protect ourselves.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions? Share them with me by leaving a comment.

Cheers to a happy, healthy and greener 2008!

My Three New Year’s Resolutions © 2007 Franke James, MFA;

Polar artists brought this Inuit doll into our home. In November I went to an exhibition and fund-raiser at the McMichael Gallery for the Polar Artists Group, whose mission is to bring awareness to the challenges the Inuit are facing in adapting to climate change and the melting Arctic.

I wasn’t intending to purchase anything — though I admired many of the paintings — but this beautiful Inuit doll caught my eye. I entered a bid in the Silent Auction, and to my surprise, ended up being the lucky winner. The doll was donated by ITK (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) whose President, Mary Simon, spoke at the event.

It seems fitting in so many ways… I’ve been collecting colorful dolls to decorate our Christmas tree for years now. We have Mexican, Spanish, French, English, even a North American Indian doll. But this is our first Inuit doll.

Becoming its owner, made me curious to find out more about the doll’s history and tradition. Who made the doll and why? I called ITK to find out more, but was only told it was ‘rare’ and fairly old. But they couldn’t tell me who made it, or exactly where in Nunavut it came from. So, I turned to Google and unearthed some basic and quite fascinating history about Inuit dolls.

Eva Strickler and Anaoyok Alookee in Inuit Dolls: Reminders of a Heritage write, “Dolls, originally toys for young girls, became sought-after collectors’ items for visitors to the North during the historic period of Inuit art. Fully clothed, they reflected the traditional clothing in any region and thus served perfectly as “models” and souvenirs for this particular aspect of Inuit material culture. While dolls for domestic use were artless, dolls made for barter could be quite elaborate and should be included in any discussion of historic Inuit art.

“In the past, Inuit girls around the age of ten, used to make their own dolls with the help of an older sister or sister-in-law.

“These little dolls, who had no faces, were made mostly of skin, and had clothing that could be taken off. The doll that was loved above all the others, had more than one set of clothes…

“To an Inuit girl, these dolls were most important because by having to make them herself, she was taught all the traditional sewing skills — skinning an animal, stretching and softening the fur and cutting and sewing skins into clothing.”

Sewing as a touchstone

Learning that young Inuit girls learned to sew by creating these dolls was a nice touchstone for me. I learned to sew as a child, and it was a skill that taught me many things about myself. Like the importance of doing things right the first time, and patience and perseverance when we do things wrong! I remember going to my mother with my bungled sewing projects. And she would very patiently explain how I’d sewn it upside down and backwards… and hand me the seam ripper. Somehow the pain of getting it right made the pleasure of a handmade object even more exquisite.

So, it’s wonderful to have this hand-made Inuit doll join our Christmas doll collection. In a way it brings the Canadian Arctic, and the Inuit culture a lot closer. And I think that’s what Mary Simon and ITK intended — that Canadians should become more aware of the Inuit of Canada. But the funny — or shocking thing is — that it’s only in deciding to write about this doll that I learned what the four regions are! They are, from West to East, the Inuvialut Settlement Region (Northwest Territories), Nunavut, Nunavik (northern Quebec) and Nunatsiavut (northern Labrador).

Climate Change Challenge: Sell your car and run a dog team

The ITK site features newsletters that will give you an insider’s perspective on the climate change challenges facing the Inuit. Here’s one story that really hit home for me…

“Today, nearly every family has an ATV [all-terrain vehicle] and uses it and produces fumes. We are polluting the air that way. I believe that we can walk and if we walk and use the dog teams, we can help to pollute the environment less. Maybe we have become a bit lazy, but I think we can walk more. Since I started the dog team, I have not used them for hunting but for gathering wood and for dog racing. I will continue to train the dogs for dog racing and would like to be involved in tourism. I strongly believe that by doing this, I help keep our traditions alive.” Simon Kohlmeister in Nain, Nunatsiavut (Nov. 2005)

Me and My Dog Team?

We sold our only car in February of 2007. With mass transit and walking it has been easy to get around. But I can’t imagine if we lived in the north — where many regions have no roads… How we would get around if we sold the family car? Would I be willing to train and feed a team of dogs?

Wow we have it easy here! Best wishes to you for a happy and healthy 2008.

The Inuit Doll and Our Melting Arctic © 2007 Franke James, MFA;