Why does the author say visiting Antarctica is important 'for our future'?

Chapter 17 of 20

85%

CBSE Class 12 English★ 4-10 marks · CBSE Class 12 English Core (Vistas) Chapter 3

Journey to the End of the Earth (Tishani Doshi)

Tishani Doshi joins a group of teenagers on a research expedition to ANTARCTICA — the coldest, driest, windiest continent. What she finds: a frozen world that holds the key to Earth's past, present, and future. This is a TRAVELOGUE, a SCIENCE LESSON, and an URGENT ENVIRONMENTAL WARNING. CBSE Class 12 English (Vistas) Chapter 3.

⏱ 14 min readMedium difficulty✓ Free · NCERT-aligned

Ask AI about this

🔤Build your vocabulary from this chapterLexiGenome mines the key words, explains them in your language, and schedules them with spaced repetition.Mine words →

By the end of this chapter you'll be able to…

1Describe the author's journey to Antarctica and the significance of the 'Students on Ice' programme
2Explain Antarctica's geological history: its connection to Gondwana (650 million years ago), its separation and freezing
3Explain why Antarctica is described as the 'earth's memory' and what ice cores reveal
4Describe the environmental urgency: Antarctic ice melt, potential 60-metre sea level rise, ozone hole above Antarctica
5Identify the chapter's themes: environmental consciousness, intergenerational responsibility, the fragility of earth's systems

💡

Why this chapter matters

Journey to the End of the Earth is the only CBSE Class 12 chapter explicitly about climate change and environmental science. It generates distinctive extract-based questions because of its scientific data (Gondwana, 650 million years, ice cores, 60-metre sea level rise) and its urgent tone. It is increasingly relevant as climate issues dominate global discourse.

Journey to the End of the Earth — Tishani Doshi

"To visit Antarctica now is to be a part of that history; to get a grasp of where we've come from and where we could be heading."

1. About the Chapter

'Journey to the End of the Earth' by Tishani Doshi (Indian poet and writer, b. 1975) recounts her experience aboard the 'Students on Ice' programme — a ship that takes high school students to ANTARCTICA. The chapter is: a TRAVEL NARRATIVE (the journey south), a GEOLOGICAL HISTORY (the breakup of Gondwana), and an ENVIRONMENTAL CALL TO ACTION (climate change is happening — Antarctica proves it).

2. The Journey

Departs from Madras (Chennai). Flies over the Indian Ocean. Stops in South America.
Boards the Russian research vessel 'Akademik Shokalskiy.'
Crosses the DRAKE PASSAGE — the roughest stretch of water in the world
Arrives at ANTARCTICA — the coldest, driest, windiest, highest continent. 90% of the world's ice. If the ice melted: sea levels would rise by ~60 metres.

3. Key Ideas

Gondwana — What Antarctica Tells Us About the Past

650 MILLION YEARS AGO: the southern continents (South America, Africa, India, Australia, Antarctica) were JOINED in a supercontinent called GONDWANA.
Antarctica was at the CENTRE of Gondwana — WARM, GREEN, with DINOSAURS roaming its forests.
India BROKE AWAY from Gondwana ~140 million years ago, drifted north, and CRASHED into Asia (creating the Himalayas).
Antarctica FROZE ~35 million years ago. It became the ICE CONTINENT we know today.
SIGNIFICANCE: Antarctica is a TIME CAPSULE. It preserves — literally FROZEN in ice — the history of the Earth's climate. Ice cores drilled from Antarctica contain bubbles of ancient atmosphere — a record of CO₂ levels going back 800,000 years.

Climate Change — The Urgent Warning

Antarctica is WARMING. Ice shelves are BREAKING OFF. Glaciers are RETREATING.
The ice holds enough water to raise sea levels by 60 METRES — submerging every coastal city on Earth (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, all of them).
The 'Students on Ice' programme aims to EDUCATE the next generation: they will be the ones to live with — or solve — the climate crisis.

The Fragility of Earth's Systems

Standing in Antarctica: Doshi feels HOW SMALL AND FRAGILE the planet is. From space: a blue marble. From Antarctica: a white continent that holds the planet's future.
'The earth doesn't need us. We need the earth.'

4. Themes

1. Antarctica as the Planet's 'Memory'

The ice remembers. Every snowflake that fell 500,000 years ago is still there — compressed into ice, preserving ancient air, ancient climate.

2. The Interconnectedness of Earth

The breakup of Gondwana 140 million years ago shaped India's geography, Australia's isolation, South America's rainforests. The movement of continents — plate tectonics — connected everything.

3. Environmental Urgency

Antarctica is not a distant, irrelevant frozen wilderness. It is the THERMOSTAT of the planet. What happens in Antarctica WILL affect every coastal city in India.

5. Key Lines

"To visit Antarctica now is to be a part of that history."
"Six hundred and fifty million years ago, a giant amalgamated southern supercontinent — Gondwana — did indeed exist."
"The earth doesn't need us. We need the earth."
"The programme aims to take high school students to the end of the earth... to make them understand the importance of the planet in its present state."

6. Conclusion

Doshi's journey is not just a travelogue — it's a MORAL EDUCATION:

ANTARCTICA: The coldest, driest, highest continent. 90% of the world's ice.
GONDWANA: The ancient supercontinent. Antarctica at its heart. India broke away.
CLIMATE CHANGE: The ice is melting. The seas will rise. The warning is URGENT.
THE STUDENTS: The next generation. They will inherit this. They must UNDERSTAND it.

'Journey to the End of the Earth' — a chapter that takes you to the literal end of the world, and shows you that the end of the world is also where the world's story begins.

Key formulas & results

Everything you need to memorise, in one card. Screenshot this for revision.

Author: Tishani Doshi

Indian poet and writer, born 1975 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Of Tamil and Welsh heritage. Won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection (2006) for 'Countries of the Body'. She joined the 'Students on Ice' programme as a guest. Her writing connects personal experience with broader environmental and social concerns.

MCQs ask: nationality (Indian), birth city (Chennai), award (Forward Prize), and what she went to Antarctica on ('Students on Ice' programme).

Students on Ice Programme

A Canadian programme that takes high school and university students to Antarctica on a research vessel. Purpose: to educate the NEXT GENERATION about climate change and environmental science — the people who will inherit the planet and must make decisions about its future. Ship used: Russian research vessel 'Akademik Shokalskiy'.

MCQs ask: what the programme is called (Students on Ice), who runs it (Canadian programme), what ship (Akademik Shokalskiy), and WHY it targets students specifically (they are the future decision-makers who will live with the consequences of climate change).

Gondwana — Earth's Historical Context

650 MILLION YEARS AGO: a supercontinent called Gondwana existed, comprising what is now South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica — all joined together. Antarctica was at the CENTRE of Gondwana — green, warm, with dinosaurs. India broke away ~140 million years ago, drifted north, and collided with Asia (creating the Himalayas). Antarctica froze ~35 million years ago.

MCQs ask precise dates: Gondwana formed ~650 million years ago; India separated ~140 million years ago; Antarctica froze ~35 million years ago. Also: what was at the centre of Gondwana (Antarctica), and what India's drift north caused (the Himalayas).

Antarctica as Earth's Memory

Antarctica holds 90% of the world's ice. The ice contains air bubbles from ancient atmospheres — FROZEN IN TIME. Scientists drill ICE CORES from Antarctic ice that go back 800,000 YEARS, preserving records of CO₂ levels, temperature, and climate. Antarctica is literally the planet's memory — and current ice is melting at record rates, destroying this archive.

These are the key facts for this chapter. MCQs ask: percentage of world's ice in Antarctica (90%), how far back ice cores record (800,000 years), what ice cores preserve (ancient air bubbles = CO₂ records, temperature records).

The Climate Warning — Sea Level Rise

If all of Antarctica's ice were to melt, sea levels would rise by approximately 60 METRES — submerging every coastal city on Earth. Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, New York, London, Tokyo — all would be flooded. This is not an immediate certainty but represents the upper bound of catastrophic warming.

60 metres sea level rise is the most-quoted fact from this chapter. MCQs ask the exact figure — do NOT say '6 metres' (that's approximately what Greenland melting would cause); ANTARCTICA's total melting = 60 metres.

The Drake Passage

The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America (Cape Horn) and Antarctica. It is the world's roughest stretch of ocean — connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans with no land barrier, generating extreme waves and wind. The author crosses it on the Akademik Shokalskiy.

MCQs ask what the Drake Passage is (roughest water in the world, between South America and Antarctica). A descriptive detail that shows the journey's physical difficulty.

⚠️

Common mistakes & fixes

These are the exact errors that cost students marks in board exams. Read them once, save yourself the trouble.

WATCH OUT

✗ Saying the sea level would rise 6 metres if Antarctica melted

✓ Antarctica's total ice, if completely melted, would raise sea levels by approximately 60 METRES — not 6. This is a commonly confused fact. The 6-metre figure is associated with Greenland's ice sheet. Antarctica's is far larger — 10 times as much potential sea level rise.

WATCH OUT

✗ Saying Tishani Doshi is a scientist or researcher

✓ Tishani Doshi is a POET AND WRITER who joined the Students on Ice programme as a guest — not as a scientist. The chapter is a literary travelogue, not a scientific report. She describes the experience poetically and makes literary/philosophical connections, not scientific analyses.

WATCH OUT

✗ Writing that Gondwana existed 650 million years ago as the ONLY supercontinent

✓ Gondwana was a SOUTHERN supercontinent. The parallel northern supercontinent was Laurasia. Together they formed the earlier supercontinent PANGAEA (~300 million years ago). Gondwana specifically was the southern part, and it is Gondwana's history that Antarctica, India, and South America share.

NCERT exercises (with solutions)

Every NCERT exercise from this chapter — what it covers and how many questions to expect.

Reading with Insight

Questions on: why the author joined the Students on Ice programme, Antarctica as earth's memory, the Gondwana connection to India, the environmental urgency, and the significance of taking students specifically

Questions

Practice problems

Try each one yourself before tapping "Show solution". Active recall > rereading.

Q1EASY· gondwana

What was Gondwana? What is its connection to present-day India?

▶ Show solution

Gondwana was a supercontinent that existed approximately 650 million years ago in Earth's geological history. It comprised what are now South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica — all joined together in one landmass. Antarctica was at the CENTRE of Gondwana, and at that time it was warm and green, with dinosaurs and forests. INDIA'S CONNECTION: India was part of Gondwana. Approximately 140 million years ago, India broke away from the Gondwana landmass and began drifting northward across what is now the Indian Ocean. This drift took millions of years. Eventually, India collided with the Eurasian plate — and the collision, over millions of years, pushed up the Himalayan mountain range. Antarctica, which remained at the south and eventually froze, preserves the geological memory of this ancient connection.

Q2MEDIUM· students-on-ice

Why does the author think that the 'Students on Ice' programme is important? What is its significance for the future?

▶ Show solution

THE PROGRAMME: 'Students on Ice' takes high school and university students to Antarctica on a research vessel, exposing them to the realities of climate change and environmental science firsthand. Tishani Doshi joined as a guest and became convinced of its importance. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT: (1) FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE: Reading about climate change in a textbook creates abstract knowledge; STANDING on Antarctica, seeing the ice, understanding that this continent holds 90% of the world's ice — this creates visceral, embodied knowledge that stays with a person. (2) THE NEXT GENERATION: The students who go to Antarctica will be the scientists, politicians, businesspeople, and voters who will make decisions about the climate crisis in 20-30 years. If they understand the fragility of Antarctica's systems from personal experience, they are far more likely to make responsible decisions. (3) THE STAKES: If Antarctica's ice melts, sea levels rise by 60 metres — submerging every coastal city. Understanding this is not academic; it is survival. (4) URGENCY: Antarctica is changing NOW — ice shelves are breaking off, glaciers are retreating. Students who see this in person understand the urgency in a way no classroom can convey. The programme is education as testimony: show the next generation the crisis so they can respond to it.

Q3HARD· long-answer

Why does Tishani Doshi describe Antarctica as the 'earth's memory'? What does a visit to Antarctica teach us about our past, present, and future?

▶ Show solution

ANTARCTICA AS EARTH'S MEMORY — THE GEOLOGICAL DIMENSION: Antarctica is literally the planet's geological archive. When snow falls on Antarctica, it compresses into ice, trapping air bubbles from the atmosphere at the time of snowfall. Scientists drill ICE CORES from this ice that go back 800,000 years — providing a continuous record of CO₂ levels, temperature, methane, and other atmospheric data from long before human civilisation existed. This ice is the earth's own record of its climate history: accurate, continuous, and irreplaceable. WHAT IT TELLS US ABOUT THE PAST: The ice cores show that current CO₂ levels are higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years — and that the rate of increase is faster than any natural climate change event in the record. This is the planet's own testimony that the current warming is unprecedented and human-caused. Antarctica also preserves the geological history of Gondwana — the ancient supercontinent whose breakup shaped all the continents and their life. Seeing Antarctica is seeing the origin point of India, South America, Africa, and Australia. WHAT IT TELLS US ABOUT THE PRESENT: Antarctica is changing at a visible, measurable pace. Ice shelves that existed for millennia are breaking off. Glaciers are retreating. The ozone hole above Antarctica (caused by CFCs) is a visible marker of human impact on the atmosphere. For Doshi, standing on Antarctica makes the climate crisis REAL in a way that no data alone can: 'you are a part of this history; you see where we have come from and where we could be heading.' THE FRAGILITY OF THE SYSTEM: Antarctica also teaches that the earth's systems are interdependent and fragile. The Drake Passage — the world's roughest water, with no land barrier — shows what happens when large systems meet; there is violence at the boundary. The ice that seems permanent has been building for 35 million years — and in human timescales, it could melt in centuries. WHAT IT TELLS US ABOUT THE FUTURE: 'To visit Antarctica is to understand what is at stake.' If the ice melts — 60 metres of sea level rise. Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangladesh, the Maldives, New York — all coastal cities under water. The future that Antarctica warns about is not distant science fiction; it is the physical consequence of decisions being made now. Doshi's message: taking young students to Antarctica is an act of hope — the belief that showing them the crisis, in person, will produce the next generation's commitment to solving it.

5-minute revision

The whole chapter, distilled. Read this the night before the exam.

•Author: Tishani Doshi (born 1975, Chennai, Indian poet); joined 'Students on Ice' programme; ship: Akademik Shokalskiy (Russian)
•Gondwana: supercontinent ~650 million years ago; India, Antarctica, Africa, South America, Australia joined; India broke away ~140 million years ago, drifted north, formed Himalayas by collision with Asia; Antarctica froze ~35 million years ago
•Antarctic ice: holds 90% of world's ice; if completely melted, sea levels rise 60 METRES; ozone hole above Antarctica (CFC damage)
•Ice cores: drilled from Antarctic ice; preserve air bubbles from 800,000 years ago; record CO₂ levels and climate history
•Drake Passage: world's roughest stretch of water; between South America and Antarctica
•Students on Ice: Canadian programme; takes high school students to Antarctica; purpose — educate next generation of decision-makers about climate crisis
•Key message: Antarctica = earth's memory (geological + atmospheric archive); to visit is to understand past and future; 'you are a part of this history'
•Environmental urgency: ice is melting NOW; current CO₂ unprecedented in 800,000-year record; coastal cities (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata) would be submerged

CBSE marks blueprint

Where the marks come from in this chapter — so you can plan your prep.

Typical chapter weightage: 4-10 marks

Question type	Marks each	Typical count	What it tests
Extract-based MCQ	4	1	Comprehension of Gondwana history, sea level rise data, ice core significance, or tone of the author
Short Answer	2	1	What Students on Ice programme is, Gondwana and India's connection, ice cores significance, or 60-metre sea level rise
Long Answer	6	occasionally	Antarctica as earth's memory, why take students to Antarctica, the environmental message, or the Gondwana geological context

Prep strategy

Memorise the key data points precisely: Gondwana existed 650 million years ago; India broke away 140 million years ago; Antarctica holds 90% of world's ice; ice cores go back 800,000 years; sea level rise = 60 METRES (not 6) — all are MCQ targets
Know the ship name (Akademik Shokalskiy) and programme origin (Canadian) — MCQs test these specific facts
For long answers: always connect the geological past (Gondwana) → the present (ice melt, ozone hole) → the future (60-metre sea level rise, coastal city flooding) — this three-time-horizon structure earns full marks

Where this shows up in the real world

This chapter isn't just an exam topic — it lives in the world around you.

Climate Crisis in 2026

As of 2026, Antarctica's ice sheets continue melting at accelerating rates. The IPCC's 2021 and 2022 reports confirm that extreme sea level rise scenarios (including partial Antarctic melt) are now considered realistic within this century under high-emission scenarios. The chapter's data — written in the early 2000s — has only become more urgent.

Exam strategy

Battle-tested tips from teachers and toppers for this chapter.

Sea level rise: the answer is 60 METRES if ALL of Antarctica's ice melts — not 6 metres (Greenland figure), not 600 metres (exaggeration); this precise figure appears in MCQs
For 'why take students specifically': the answer must include two elements — (1) they will be the next generation's decision-makers, and (2) firsthand experience creates commitment that textbooks cannot; vague answers ('to educate them') score 1/2

Going beyond the textbook

For olympiad aspirants and curious learners — topics that build on this chapter.

Read the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2021-22) synthesis report — Tishani Doshi's warning has been scientifically verified and extended; the report uses exactly the kind of evidence (ice cores, sea level projections) that the chapter describes
Compare with Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' (1962) — another landmark work that used accessible, poetic writing to communicate scientific environmental urgency to a general audience; Carson's book changed global pesticide policy

Where else this chapter is tested

CBSE board isn't the only one — other exams test this chapter too.

CBSE Class 12 Board (English Core)High

CUET (English)Medium

UPSC GS III (Environment)High

AI helpers for this chapter

Generate more practice on the fly, or have the chapter explained at a different level.

⚡

Generate 5 more questions

Fresh MCQs + short-answer items based on this chapter, plus answer keys.

🧠

Explain at a different level

Re-explain the chapter at the level you actually want.

📝 My notes

Saved on this device — sign in to sync · how this works

0/600

Questions students ask

The real ones — pulled from the Q&A community and tutor sessions.

Because Antarctica's current state is the most direct evidence of the climate crisis — and its future determines the futures of billions of people. If students understand that 60 metres of sea level rise is at stake, that 800,000 years of climate data is being destroyed as ice melts, and that the changes are happening now — they will make better decisions as adults. The Students on Ice programme bets that EXPERIENCE creates commitment in a way that textbooks cannot.

Practice more, ask doubts, find a tutor

CBSE Class 12 mock tests

CBSE Class 12 PYQs

Ask in Q&A

English flashcards

Related chapters

Students who read Journey to the End of the Earth (Tishani Doshi) usually read these next.

The Last Lesson (Alphonse Daudet)

In 1870, Prussia conquered Alsace and Lorraine — and ordered that only German be taught in schools. M. Hamel, a French teacher, gives his LAST lesson in French to a class that suddenly realises what they are losing. Alphonse Daudet's masterful story about language as the 'key to prison' of colonial rule. CBSE Class 12 English (Flamingo) Prose Chapter 1.

Lost Spring — Stories of Stolen Childhood (Anees Jung)

Saheb-e-Alam scavenges garbage on the outskirts of Delhi. Mukesh dreams of becoming a motor mechanic in the bangle-making lanes of Firozabad. Anees Jung's devastating essay about children whose childhood has been STOLEN by poverty and tradition — and who sometimes, against all odds, dare to dream. CBSE Class 12 English (Flamingo) Prose Chapter 2.

Deep Water (William Douglas)

At age 4, William Douglas was knocked down by a wave and nearly drowned. At age 10, a bully threw him into the deep end of a pool. For years, he was TERRIFIED of water. This is the story of how he overcame that fear — by confronting it, step by determined step. CBSE Class 12 English (Flamingo) Prose Chapter 3.

The Rattrap (Selma Lagerlöf)

A destitute peddler who sells rat traps sees the whole world as a GIANT RATTRAP — offering baits of wealth and pleasure to trap people. But when a generous ironmaster's daughter treats him with kindness, the 'rat' in the trap discovers that he, too, has a core of human dignity. Selma Lagerlöf's fable-like story about the redemptive power of kindness. CBSE Class 12 English (Flamingo) Prose Chapter 4.