JOURNEY TO THE END
OF THE EARTH - NOTES
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.
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”. 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. 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. By visiting the
Antarctica we can understand the earth’s past, present and future.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. What sort of brightness and silence prevailed in
Antarctica dining summer? (2011 Delhi)
Answer: The brightness that prevailed in Antarctica was
surreal as the austral summer light remained for 24 hours in the continent. The
silence there was ubiquitous interrupted only by the occasional avalanche or
calving ice sheet.
8. 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.
9. 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.
