INTERNATIONAL INDIAN PUBLIC SCHOOL,RIYADH

GRADE 12-
Journey to the end of the Earth – BY TISHANI DOSHI
Important Questions
1. Answer each of the following questions in about 30-40 words:

Question 1.How do geological phenomena help us to 1 know about the history of

mankind?
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?
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?

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?
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?

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’?

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?
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?

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?
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?
Answer:Tishani Doshi’s first emotion when he set foot on the Antarctic continent was
one of relief. He 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 him.

Question 11.Why is Antarctica the place to go to if we want to study the earth’s past,
present and future?

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 were the writer’s feelings on reaching Antarctica?

Answer:The writer’s first emotion on reaching Antarctica was that of relief. He felt
relieved to have set foot on the Antarctic continent after over 100 hours. Then he
experienced a sense of amazement on seeing its vastness and immense white landscape
which dazzled his eyes.

Question 13.What sort of brightness and silence prevailed in Antarctica dining

summer?
Answer:The brightness that prevailed in Antarctica was surreal (strange) as the austral
summer light remained for 24 hours in the continent. The silence there was ubiquitous
(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’?

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? 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?

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.

2. Answer the following question in about 125-150 words.

Question 17.How the programme, ‘Students on Ice’ was an attempt to equip future
generation with knowledge to save Earth? Answer:The objective of the ‘Students on
Ice’ programme was to take the High School students to the limits of the world and
provide them with inspiring opportunities in education to enable them to understand and
respect our planet. According to Geoff Green, the High School students are the future
policy-makers and through this programme they would be able to save this planet from
the ecological hazards and the harmful effects of global warming. Antarctica, with its
simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity, is the perfect place to study how little changes
in the environment can have major repercussions. The school students’ impressionable
minds can study and examine the Earth’s past, present and future by their voyage to
Antarctica.

Question 18.The world’s geological history is trapped in the Antarctica. How is the
study of this region useful to us?

Answer:The Antarctic landmass dates back to 650 million years. It was an amalgamated
southern supercontinent called Gondwana. This landmass centered around the present-
day Antarctica. Human beings did not exist as their civilization is only 12,000 years old.
The climate at that time was warm and landmass flourished with a vast variety of flora
and fauna. The study of this region shows that Gondwana prospered for 500 million
years. But then the dinosaurs got wiped out and mammals began to appear. The landmass
disintegrated into countries and India, the Himalayas and South America was formed.
This left Antarctica frigid at the bottom of the earth. Today, it stores the key to the
significance of coridelleran folds and pre- Cambrian granite shields, ozone and carbon
layers as well as a study of the evolution and extinction. This can help us to understand in
a better way the formation of continents and mountains like the Himalayas as we find
them in the modem world. Its ice-folds hold over half-million-year-old carbon records
that are so crucial for the study of the Earth’s past, present and future, thus trapping the
world’s geological history in Antarctica.

Question 19.What are phytoplanktons? How are they important to our ecosystem?
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 20.The author calls her two-week stay in Antarctica, ‘a chilling prospect’.
How far do you think is she justified? What other features of the Antarctic
environment are highlighted?

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—both in terms of circulatory and metabolic functions and for the imagination.
She has been transported from the scorching sun to the ice floes and glaciers where
ninety per cent of the earth’s surface is ice-mass. Her two-week Antarctic encounter left
an epiphanic effect on her and she carried back indelible memories of the continent. For
her, it was like walking into a giant ping-pong ball, devoid of any human markers like
trees, billboards and buildings. She says one loses all earthly sense of perspective and
time here. As the day pass in surreal 24- hour austral summer light, a silence prevails
which is interrupted only by the occasional avalanche or caving ice sheet.

She learnt that Antarctica has a very simple ecosystem that lacks variety. But if this
system is interfered with and environmental changes are effected indiscriminately, it can
lead to depletion of the ozone layer, which protects us from the harmful rays of the sun.
Since the planet is unravaged by humans, it remains unblemished. Its ice-cores hold more
than half¬million-year-old carbon records that are imperative for the detailed study of our
planet.

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?

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.

Question 22.In what ways is the research on Antarctica helpful in the study and
understanding of the Earth’s past and future, according to the author of ‘Journey to
the End of the Earth’?

Answer:
A visit to Antarctica will help us to understand where we have come from and where we
could possibly be heading. It will also suggest a lot of future possibilities, probably for
even a million years later. By visiting the Antarctica we get an opportunity to study about
the future climatic changes easily and more effectively. We also come to know about the
repercussions of the various environmental changes. It also gives us the realization of the
appearance of the ‘future world’. The ice-cores of Antarctica hold more than half-million-
year-old carbon records which are very crucial for the study of the past, present and
future of our planet. All this will also help us to understand our planet better and also give
us ideas to save our planet.