Journey to the end of the Earth
by Tishani Doshi
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A travel piece describing the author's voyage to Antarctica aboard the Russian research vessel Akademik Shokalskiy, as part of the 'Students on Ice' programme. Antarctica, the coldest, driest, windiest continent, was once part of the giant southern supercontinent Gondwana, which included India, some 650 million years ago. Visiting it is to grasp the Earth's past, present and future: the study of geological phenomena, ozone, carbon and evolution. Human civilisation, barely 12,000 years old, has caused enormous damage, over-population and the burning of fossil fuels have created a blanket of carbon dioxide that is raising global temperatures. Antarctica, never sustaining a human population, remains pristine and holds half-million-year-old carbon records in its ice cores, making it the ideal place to study climate change. Through the 'Students on Ice' programme, founded by Geoff Green, high-school students are given a life-changing experience to become future policy-makers who care for the planet. The author walks on a metre-thick ice pack over the ocean and realises, in the metaphor of the phytoplankton, that 'take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place.'
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The travelogue links Antarctica's ancient geological history with present-day concerns about human impact and climate change, urging awareness and care for the planet.
A journey into Earth's past
The author travels over 100 hours to reach Antarctica, the coldest, driest and windiest continent. She marvels that India and Antarctica were once joined in the supercontinent Gondwana, some 650 million years ago, when the climate was warmer and full of flora and fauna. To visit Antarctica is to understand where we have come from and where we may be heading.
Human impact
Human civilisation is barely 12,000 years old, a mere blink on the geological clock, yet in that time humans have dominated nature with villages, towns and cities, battling other species for resources and burning fossil fuels that create a blanket of carbon dioxide, steadily raising global temperatures.
Antarctica and climate change
Antarctica is crucial to the climate-change debate because it has never sustained a human population and remains relatively pristine, and because its ice cores preserve half-million-year-old carbon records. It is therefore the perfect place to study the Earth's past, present and future and to see the very real effects of global warming, glaciers retreating and ice shelves collapsing.
Students on Ice and the phytoplankton
The 'Students on Ice' programme, headed by Geoff Green, takes high-school students to the poles to inspire respect for the planet in future policy-makers. The author walks on a metre-thick ice pack over 180 metres of living ocean and, watching Crabeater seals, feels that 'everything does indeed connect.' In the parable of the phytoplankton, tiny plants that sustain the entire ocean's food chain and the global carbon cycle, she finds the lesson: 'take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place.'