Welcome to English Chatterbox! It's a very wonderful chapter which gives us an insight into the fact that we can feel the impact of the environment sitting in our living room but only when we step in Antarctica, we understand its reality to the fullest.
This chapter is divided in 4 fragments
Scroll down to keep on reading!
Click on one of the four topics to view that particular fragment of the story
To conveniently remember it, just remember what points we have under each heading. Let's start with the first one.
1. Introduction
Tishani Doshi goes to Antarctica in a Russian Vessel Akademik Shokalskiy
Crosses
- 9 Time Zones
- 6 Check Points
- 3 Bodies of Water
- 3 Ecospheres
Travel time = 100 hours 
2. Part of History
Gondwana
This single continent thrived 500 million years ago as one huge body. By the time mammals arrived, the landmass separated & formed the present globe.
History
This place tells us our origin as to how the world would have been when we are all on a single landmass.
Author's Perspective
She considered it to be a chilling prospect.
She compared it to a ping pong ball which has no fixed dimensions or end points, where no one can tell where it starts or where it ends. No landmarks can be seen here like trees, billboards or buildings.
There is daylight throughout the day & night. The only sound one can hear is of avalanches.
3. Human Impact
We have left a terrible impact on the environment by exploiting the resources to such an extent that people are left fighting for limited resources. The incessant burning of fossil fuel has led to increased global warming.
We can understand the effect of all this exploitation in Antarctica as it is over here that no one has interfered with the environment. So here we know the
Past | Carbon records are trapped
Present | You can see polar ice caps melting & glaciers retreating. This gives you a direct impact of the effect of global warming.
Future | If we bring about a change in our exploitative behavior then only we can hope to survive. Otherwise we have a very bleak future.
Student on Ice
This is a programme started by Geoff Green, a Canadian. In this programme he takes students to Antarctica as they are the future generation of policy makers. They will believe when they will see.
Phytoplankton
The metaphor of this single called plant has been used by the author as she believes if one takes care of small things then big things are bound to fall in their place. So if we were to take care of plants like phytoplankton which are a part of food chain then we can easily take care of the environment as a whole.
4. Walk on the ocean
It so happened that during her journey their ship was stuck in a wedge and the captain asked them to get down & walk. Here she saw a Crabeater seal basking in the sun & she realised that it is quite like the dogs in their locality which lie down under the shade of the banyan tree. She felt life is connected & it's almost the same everywhere.
