Exam-useful questions from this chapter, grouped by marks, each with a full model answer. Try writing the answer yourself first, then check it against this one.
1 1-Mark Questions
Q. Who wrote “Journey to the End of the Earth”?
Answer: Tishani Doshi, an Indian writer, wrote this essay.
Q. Name the ship on which the writer travelled to Antarctica.
Answer: The Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian research vessel.
Q. What does the term “Gondwana” refer to in this essay?
Answer: A giant amalgamated southern supercontinent that existed 650 million years ago, centred roughly around present-day Antarctica.
Q. What percentage of the Earth’s total ice volumes does Antarctica store, according to the essay?
Answer: 90 per cent.
Q. Who heads the Students on Ice programme, and what is his nationality?
Answer: Geoff Green, who is Canadian.
Q. What are phytoplankton called in the essay?
Answer: “Grasses of the sea” (the essay says “those grasses of the sea”).
Q. What does the word “pristine” mean, as the essay uses it about Antarctica?
Answer: Untouched and still in its original, unspoiled condition, because it has never sustained a human population.
Q. How many people walked on the ocean near the Antarctic Circle?
Answer: All 52 of them.
Q. What is meant by an “epiphany”, as the word is used in the essay?
Answer: A sudden, striking realisation or moment of insight.
Q. What was the size of the largest recorded iceberg, according to the essay?
Answer: The size of Belgium.
2 2-Mark Questions
Q. Why does the writer say her first emotion on facing Antarctica was relief?
Answer: By the time she actually set foot on the continent she had been travelling for over 100 hours by car, aeroplane and ship, so her first emotion on facing Antarctica was relief, quickly followed by profound wonder.
Q. What does the essay mean when it says Gondwana was “forced to separate into countries”?
Answer: Around the time the dinosaurs were wiped out, the single supercontinent Gondwana broke apart into the separate countries we know today, shaping the globe much as we know it today.
Q. Explain the simile “a giant ping-pong ball devoid of any human markers.”
Answer: It compares Antarctica’s blank white landscape to the inside of a ping-pong ball, with no trees, billboards or buildings, so a visitor loses all normal sense of scale, distance and time.
Q. What does understanding Antarctica help a visitor grasp, according to the essay’s own list of terms?
Answer: The significance of Cordilleran folds and pre-Cambrian granite shields, ozone and carbon, and evolution and extinction: the whole span of the planet’s geological history.
Q. What does “unmitigated burning of fossil fuels” mean, and what has it caused, according to the essay?
Answer: Burning fossil fuels without any check or reduction; it has created a “blanket” of carbon dioxide around the world that is slowly but surely raising the average global temperature.
Q. Why does the essay call Antarctica “pristine”?
Answer: Because it is the only place on Earth that has never sustained a human population, so it remains relatively untouched and in its original condition.
Q. What open questions about climate change does the essay ask, without answering them definitely?
Answer: Whether the West Antarctic ice sheet will melt entirely, whether the Gulf Stream ocean current will be disrupted, and whether it will be “the end of the world as we know it”. The essay answers all three only with “Maybe. Maybe not.”
Q. Why does Geoff Green now take high-school students to Antarctica instead of rich, retired tourists?
Answer: He got tired of carting celebrities and retired, rich curiosity-seekers who could only “give” back in a limited way, and instead wants to give the future generation of policy-makers a life-changing experience.
Q. What happened to the Shokalskiy near Tadpole Island?
Answer: It wedged itself into a thick white stretch of ice between the peninsula and Tadpole Island, so the Captain decided to turn back north. Before turning back, all 52 of them were instructed to climb down the gangplank and walk on the ocean.
Q. What does the writer mean by “everything does indeed connect”?
Answer: Walking on the ocean itself, standing on a metre-thick ice pack over 180 metres of living, breathing, salt water with seals resting nearby, was “nothing short of a revelation”: one reading is that she felt, in a direct, physical way, that every part of the natural world is linked together.
3 4-Mark Questions
Q. Explain how the essay connects India’s geological history to the formation of the Himalayas and to Antarctica.
Answer: 650 million years ago Gondwana existed as one supercontinent that included both India and Antarctica. It thrived for 500 million years before breaking apart around the time the dinosaurs were wiped out. India then pushed northward, jamming against Asia and buckling its crust to form the Himalayas. This shows that studying Antarctica’s geology helps explain landmarks as far away as the Himalayas, which formed when India, once part of the same landmass as Antarctica, pushed northward and jammed against Asia.
Q. ‘The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica.’ Explain, with reference to the essay, why studying this region is useful to us.
Answer: Antarctica’s ice-cores hold half-a-million-year-old carbon records trapped in layers of ice. It is also the only place that has never sustained a human population, so it remains relatively pristine. Understanding its Cordilleran folds, granite shields, ozone and carbon there helps explain evolution and extinction generally. Finally, it is central to the climate-change debate because its ice-cores hold half-a-million-year-old carbon records trapped in its layers of ice.
Q. What are Geoff Green’s reasons for including high school students in the Students on Ice expedition? Explain in your own words.
Answer: He was tired of taking celebrities and rich, retired tourists who could only “give” back in a limited way. High-school students, by contrast, are the future generation of policy-makers. They are at an age when they are ready to absorb, learn and, most importantly, act. Seeing glaciers retreat and ice shelves collapse with their own eyes makes the threat of global warming feel real to them.
Q. Explain the phytoplankton example and the “metaphor for existence” the writer draws from it.
Answer: Phytoplankton are microscopic, single-celled sea plants that nourish the entire Southern Ocean’s food chain through photosynthesis. Further depletion of the ozone layer would affect phytoplankton’s activities, which would in turn affect marine animals and birds of the region, and finally the global carbon cycle. This shows how a small change can cause large consequences. The writer states the moral directly: “take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place.”
Q. Describe the “walk on the ocean” episode in your own words, including where and how it happened.
Answer: It happened just short of the Antarctic Circle, at 65.55 degrees south. The Shokalskiy had wedged into ice near Tadpole Island, and the Captain decided to turn back. Before turning back, all 52 people climbed down the gangplank and walked on the ocean itself, dressed in Gore-Tex and glares. Underfoot was a metre-thick ice pack over 180 metres of water, with Crabeater seals sunning themselves nearby.
Q. ‘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 environment?
Answer: Antarctica’s simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity make it the perfect place to see how small changes cause big repercussions. Phytoplankton are a tiny, easily overlooked organism, yet they sustain the entire Southern Ocean food chain. A small change such as ozone depletion can ripple outward to affect marine animals, birds and the global carbon cycle. The essay presents this as “a great metaphor for existence”: taking care of the small things lets the big things fall into place.
4 6-Mark Questions
Q. Why is Antarctica the place to go to, to understand the earth’s present, past and future? Answer with reference to the whole essay.
Answer: Past: Antarctica was once part of Gondwana, a supercontinent that existed 650 million years ago and thrived for 500 million years before breaking apart; studying it helps explain events as far-reaching as the formation of the Himalayas (India pushing into Asia) and the opening of the Drake Passage (South America drifting to join North America). Present: Antarctica currently stores 90 per cent of the Earth’s ice, has never sustained a human population, and remains relatively pristine, making it a relatively pristine environment; it is also home to programmes like Students on Ice that build present-day understanding of the planet. Future: its ice-cores hold half-a-million-year-old carbon records that scientists study to understand climate change, including open questions about the West Antarctic ice sheet and the Gulf Stream; its simple ecosystem also shows, through phytoplankton, how small present-day changes could shape the planet’s future. This is why the essay calls Antarctica “the place to go to.”
Q. Trace the writer’s emotional journey across the essay, from the moment she reaches Antarctica to the closing line, quoting at least three phrases.
Answer: Relief and wonder on arrival: “relief, followed up with an immediate and profound wonder.” Awe at deep time and scale while learning about Gondwana and the continent’s vastness: “It’s like walking into a giant ping-pong ball.” Concern while considering climate change and human impact: “the prognosis isn’t good,” alongside the open questions about the ice sheet and ocean current. Hope, restored by the idealistic teenagers on the expedition who “still have the idealism to save the world.” Finally, reflective wonder in the closing line: “A lot can happen in a million years, but what a difference a day makes!”
Q. Describe how the movement of the landmasses, as explained in the essay, shaped both India’s landscape and Antarctica’s climate. Use the essay’s own sequence of events.
Answer: Gondwana existed 650 million years ago as one giant supercontinent, centred on present-day Antarctica, and thrived for 500 million years. Around the time the dinosaurs were wiped out, the landmass was “forced to separate into countries.” India then pushed northward and jammed against Asia, buckling the crust and forming the Himalayas. Separately, South America drifted off to join North America, opening up the Drake Passage, which created a cold circumpolar current that keeps Antarctica frigid, desolate and at the bottom of the world.
5 Case Studies
(A) 1 mark Who heads the Students on Ice programme, and what is his nationality?
Answer: Geoff Green, who is Canadian.
(B) 2 marks What is the stated aim of the Students on Ice programme?
Answer: To take high-school students to the ends of the world and give them inspiring educational opportunities that build a new understanding and respect for the planet.
(C) 3 marks Why did Geoff Green choose to work with high-school students rather than continuing to take rich, retired tourists?
Answer: He had grown tired of carting celebrities and retired, rich curiosity-seekers who could only “give” back in a limited way. High-school students, as the future generation of policy-makers, are at an age when they are ready to absorb, learn and, most importantly, act, so the experience can shape future decision-making, rather than giving back in only a limited way.
(A) 1 mark What are phytoplankton called in this passage?
Answer: “Grasses of the sea” (the passage says “those grasses of the sea”).
(B) 2 marks What process do phytoplankton use to assimilate carbon and make organic compounds?
Answer: Photosynthesis, using the sun’s energy.
(C) 3 marks Explain the chain of effects the passage describes if the ozone layer is further depleted, and the “metaphor for existence” it leads to.
Answer: Further ozone depletion would affect phytoplankton’s activities, which would then affect marine animals and birds of the region, and finally the global carbon cycle. This small-to-big chain is why the writer calls it a metaphor for existence: take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place.