Journey to the end of the Earth

Summary 

Introduction: 

Journey to the End of the Earth, written by Tishani Doshi, talks about her experience on the Antarctic continent during a research programme that takes high school students to the icy continent to study and understand climate change. 

The story begins with the author’s journey in a Russian vessel. It was headed towards Antarctica. The author has travels 100 hours in a car, airplane as well as the ship. The main objective of this trip is to learn about Antarctica. The place stores 90% of the earth’s total ice volumes with no trees, buildings or anything.

The author wonders about the time when India and Antarctica were on the same landmass of a southern supercontinent, Gondwana. It existed for six hundred and fifty million years ago.  All this was before the arrival of human beings. For 500 million years, Gondwana flourished. Thus, after the extinction of dinosaurs, the landmass separated into countries.

Antarctica helps us to see the future. Antarctica provides Earth’s history, human evolution, and the planet's future. It also gives an awakening to threatening alarm that global warming is real. The author spent two weeks in Antarctica. She was surrounded by vast icebergs, and wildlife, midges, blue whales, and experienced 24-hours daylight of summer. Humans, having existed on Earth for only 12,000 years, have drastically changed the environment by building cities, megacities, deforestation and overpopulation. 

 

The increasing demand for resources, rising global temperatures, and expanding carbon dioxide levels have created a concerning environmental crisis. Antarctica plays a vital role in understanding and addressing these issues. Damaging of the ozone layer can disrupt the entire food chain.

 

Question 1.

How do geological phenomena help us to know about the history of mankind? (2000; 2009 Delhi)

Answer:

It is geological phenomena that help us to know about the history of mankind. Geologists say about 650 million years ago a giant ‘amalgamated’ super continent, Gondwana existed in the South. At that time India and Antarctica were parts of the same landmass. Gondwana had a warm climate and a huge variety of flora and fauna. This supercontinent survived for 500 years till the age of mammals got underway.

Question 2.

What kind of indications do we get while visiting Antarctica to save Earth? (2004 Delhi)

Answer:

Tishani Doshi’s entire experience of visiting Antarctica was nothing short of a revelation. It made her wonder about the “beauty of balance in play on our planet”. She hopes the new generation will understand their planet better and save it from annihilation. The planet’s ecosystem and its balance that took millions of years to form can be soon destroyed. Scientists warn that a further depletion in the ozone layer will affect the activities of the phytoplankton. The lives of the marine animals and birds of the region will be affected. But the school students’ visit to the Antarctica may make human beings handle their planet in a better way.

Question 3.

How can a visit to the Antarctica be an enlightening experience? (2008 Outside Delhi; All Comptt. Delhi)

Answer:

By visiting the Antarctica we can understand the earth’s past, present and future. A visit there can teach the next generation to understand and value our planet. Antarctica also holds within its ice-cores half-million-years old carbon records which will help us to study climatic changes by global warming.

Question 4.

Why is a visit to Antarctica important to realise the effect of global warming? (2008 Outside Delhi)

Answer:

Antarctica is the perfect place to study the effects that global warming is causing. It is here that one can see the effect of melting glaciers and collapsing ice-shelves and how this is likely to raise the water levels in the sea and the ocean, as a result of which many low lying regions will be submerged under water.

Question 5.

How is Antarctica a crucial element in the debate on climate change? (2008 Outside Delhi; 2013 Comptt. Outside Delhi)

Answer:

Antarctica is a crucial element in the debate on climate change because it is the only place in the world which has never sustained a human population and thus remains relatively pristine. Moreover, it holds in its ice-caves half-million- year old carbon records trapped in its layers of ice. The world’s climate is changing fast and is at present one of the most hotly debated issues. Antarctica is the ideal place to study the effect of these environmental changes as it has a very simple ecosystem and lacks biodiversity. If global warming makes Antarctica warmer, it will have disastrous consequences elsewhere.

Question 6.

What was the objective of the ‘Students on Ice Programme’? (2009 Delhi; 2011 Comptt. Outside Delhi)

Answer:

The objective of the ‘Students on Ice’ programme was to take High School students to the limits of the world and provide them not only with inspiring opportunities in education but also enable them to understand and respect our planet. The idea was to provide them a life-changing experience at an age when they are ready to absorb, learn and most importantly act. According to Geoff Green, the High School students are the future policy makers and through this programme they would save this planet from ecological hazards and the harmful effects of global warming.

Question 7.

Why is Antarctica and its understanding important for the survival of the world? (2009 Outside Delhi)

Answer:

Antarctica and its understanding is important for the survival of the world because it helps us to know that the southern supercontinent of Gondwana existed and centered around the present-day Antarctica. Human beings had not come on the global scene but a huge variety of flora and fauna was present in the supercontinent. It was after 500 million years that the landmass was forced to separate into countries that exist today. Antarctica’s ice-cores hold over half-million-year-old carbon records which are crucial for the study of the Earth’s past, present and future.

Question 8.

What are the indications for the future of humankind? (2009 Outside Delhi)

Answer:

A fast and steady rise in human population in proportion to the limited natural resources is exerting pressure on land. Forests are being cut and fossil fuels are being burnt and these factors are increasing the global temperature. Melting of glaciers, depletion of ozone layer and global warming are endangering man’s existence on earth. This is bound to adversely affect marine life, birds and mankind.

Question 9.

How did the Antarctica amaze the writer when he first saw it? (2010 Delhi)

Answer:

When the writer first saw Antarctica he was amazed by its vastness and immense white landscape. It was an endless blue horizon and the fact that it was isolated from the rest of the world created an added sense of wonder and mystery about the continent.

Question 10.

Why was Tishani Doshi filled with relief and wonder when he set foot on the Antarctic continent? (2010 Comptt. Delhi)

Answer:

Tishani Doshi’s first emotion when she set foot on the Antarctic continent was one of relief. She felt relieved to have set foot there after over a hundred hours. Its vastness and immense wild landscape dazzled his eyes. Its endless blue horizon and its isolation from the rest of the world created a sense of wonder and mystery for her.

uQ

Question. 11 Why is Antarctica the place to go to if we want to study the earth’s past, present and future? (2010 Comptt. Outside Delhi)

Answer:

The Antarctica landmass, that was an amalgamated southern supercontinent called Gondwana dates back to 650 million years. It can help us understand better the formation of continents and mountains like the Himalayas as they are in the modem world. Its ice-cores hold over half-million-year old carbon records that are vital to study the Earth’s past, present and future.

Question 12.

What sort of brightness and silence prevailed in Antarctica dining summer? (2011 Delhi)

Answer:

The brightness that prevailed in Antarctica was strange as the austral summer light remained for 24 hours in the continent. The silence there was widespread interrupted only by the occasional avalanche or calving ice sheet.

Question 14.

What do you think is the reason behind the success of the programme, ‘Students on Ice’? (2011 Delhi)

Answer:

The programme ‘Students on Ice’ was a success because it offered a life changing exposure to the future generation of policy makers at an age when they could absorb, learn and act. It provided them with inspiring educational opportunities which would help them foster a new understanding and respect for our planet.

Question 15.

Why does the author of Journey to the End of the Earth state that in 12000 years man has managed to create a ruckus on this earth? (2012 Comptt. Outside Delhi )

Answer:

Humans have been on this Earth for about 12,000 years and have created a havoc and ruckus on this Earth. They have done this by encroaching on nature and establishing cities and megacities. Their increasing population has depleted natural resources and their callousness towards nature has led to a rise in global temperature.

Question 16.

How was Antarctica a chilling prospect for a South Indian, Tishani Doshi? (2013 Comptt. Delhi)

Answer:

Tishani Doshi is a sun-worshipping South Indian and for her to spend two weeks in a place where 90 per cent of the Earth’s total ice volumes are stored is a chilling prospect, not just for circulatory and metabolic functions, but also for the imagination.

Question 19.

What are phytoplanktons? How are they important to our ecosystem? (2010 Outside Delhi; 2012 Delhi)

Answer:

The microscopic phytoplankton are tiny forms of plant life on the sea. They nourish and sustain the entire southern ocean’s food chain. They are single-celled plants and use the energy of the sun to assimilate carbon supplying oxygen and synthesise compounds. Depletion of the ozone layer that protects us from the harmful rays of the sun adversely affects the activities of the phytoplankton. Any further depletion in the ozone layer will hamper their activity which, in turn, is bound to affect the growth of marine animals and birds and even the global carbon cycle. Thus to save the big organisms the small organisms need to be cared for because even minor changes have huge repercussions.

Question 21.

Why does Tishani Doshi call her trip to Antarctica a “Journey to the End of the Earth”? What experience did she have during this expedition? (2011 Outside Delhi)

Answer:

Tishani Doshi calls her trip to Antarctica a ‘Journey to the End of the Earth’ because she crosses nine time zones, six checkpoints, three water bodies and many ecospheres to reach there. The entire journey takes one hundred hours. She is wonder-struck by the immensity and isolation of the region. She is also relieved to see its expansive wide landscape and uninterrupted blue horizon. Antarctica provides young students like her with a platform to study changes in the environment. The programme is also likely to help them develop a new respect and understanding of our planet. Antarctica is also the perfect place for them to study how little climatic changes can have big repercussions and how global warming and further depletion of the ozone layer can affect the Antarctic region. The study of the Antarctica will help them to understand the earth’s past, present and future.