JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE EARTH (NOTES)

JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE EARTH

Tishani Doshi

Questions and Answers

1. ‘The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica: How is the study of this region useful to us?

Ans: The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica. In the past, around 650 million years ago, India and Antarctica were part of a supercontinent named Gondwana. The climate was favourable for the huge variety of flora and fauna to thrive. Later several land masses drifted away from it to form some of the continents that exist today. A cold circumpolar current was created. It made Antarctica frigid. All these events of history are embedded in the age old carbon records of Antarctica.

2. What are Geoff Green’s reasons for including high school students in the Students on Ice expedition?

Ans: Students on Ice is a  programme that aims at taking high school students to the ends of the world and providing them with inspiring educational opportunities which will help them foster a new  understanding for our planet. It’s been in operation for six years. This programme is headed by Canadian Geoff Green.  Geoff thinks that taking students to Antarctica is more fruitful than carting celebrities and rich. He wants to give the future generation of policy-makers a life-changing experience at an age when they’re ready to absorb, learn, and act. He wants to give them a first-hand experience of ice shelves melting and collapsing which may offer them a clue to the stark future of life on earth.

3. ‘Take care of the small things and the big things will take care of themselves.’ What is the relevance of this statement in the context of the Antarctic?

Ans: Antarctica has a special ecosystem which gives a big scope to study the delicate nature of our environment. The author exemplifies this through very small single celled plants called phytoplankton which feed and sustain the entire southern ocean’s food chain. These phytoplanktons absorb carbon and synthesise various organic compounds through photosynthesis. These micro-organisms can survive only in low degree of temperature. But, depletion of ozone layer and rise of global warming are giving alarming treats to the very existence of these organisms. Extinction of phytoplanktons will have far reaching consequences in our ecosystem.

So, human beings are expected to take care of all living beings including the tiny forms of flora and fauna to prevent the depletion of ozone layer by reducing carbon emissions. If we take care of small things big things will automatically fall into place

3. Why is Antarctica the place to go to, to understand the Earth’s present, past and future?

Ans: For those who study and examine the Earth’s present, past and future, Antarctica is the ideal place to go.

To visit Antarctica is to be a part of the earth’s past history. We come to know that about 650 million years ago there was a giant super-continent in the south. It was called Gondwana. India and Antarctica were parts of the same landmass-Gondwana. Things were quite different then. Human had not arrived on the earth. The climate of Antarctica was much warmer. Dinosaurs became extinct. The age of mammals started. The landmass was forced in to be separated into countries as they exist today. Geological history is trapped inside the ice layers in Antarctica.

Present unfurls in front of our eyes when we see glaciers melting and ice-caps falling. We can relate them to the results of global warming.

Antarctica also warns us for the future. It tells us how little changes in the environment can have big repercussions. Phytoplanktons nourish and sustain the entire Southern Ocean’s food chain. Further depletion in the ozone layer would affect the lives of all the marine animals and birds of the region and the global carbon cycle. It could also lead to the end of the world. In this way it suggests future possibilities about our planet.

There is no place in the Earth except Antarctica where we can find the records of present, past and future. Thus, Antarctica is the perfect place to go to, to understand the earth’s present, past and the future.