Class XII - Journey to the End of the Earth

children. So we'll be doing journey to the end of the earth. Okay. I've downloaded the lesson today. There's a few things, you know, I need to refer. So it's written by Tashani Doshi. Okay. And end of the earth by that she means Antarctica. It's a frozen continent. It's really difficult to survive there. In fact, and people generally don't live there, but then there are research centers. Different countries have put up their research centers. India also has two research centers. Bharki and Meghri. The first one was Dakshin Gangotri. That's now used as the supply base. So anyways, if anybody goes there, they first have to reach there, Dakshin Gangotri. Okay. So in fact, you know, Antarctica, since nobody lives there, and people haven't been there to ruin the place, man hasn't been there to ruin the place actually. You see, so there, you know, the records right from the beginning of the development and the changes in the earth, the geological records of the earth, in fact, you know, they are there without any human interference. So if anybody has to study how the changes in earth came about the geological history of the earth, then Antarctica is the place to go. Okay. So that is precisely what the writer is writing here. And in fact, she's told us a lot of things about Antarctica. Okay. So in fact, you know, the name of the vessel, the ship, it was a Russian vessel. And the name was academic Shokalisky. Okay. So we'll just read the first paragraph. Earlier this year, I found myself aboard a Russian research vessel, the academic Shokalisky, heading towards the coldest, driest, windiest continent in the world in Antarctica. My journey began 13.09 degrees north of the equator from Madras and involved crossing nine time zones and six checkpoints, three bodies of water and at least as many ecosystems as children, the time zones they change. Okay. So we have just one time in India, the Indian standard time, the meridian, it passes somewhere through Ujjain, that's what people say, in fact. And similarly, children, US, it has around six time zones, because, you know, of the vastness of the place, you can't really say that, okay, what's the time here in the east coast? The same time has to be there in the west coast also. But for India, of course, we can manage same with Russia, you know, they need more time, they have more time zones since it's a very vast country. So here, you know, he says that I had two cross nine time zones. And in fact, six checkpoints, because there will be different continents, you know, there'll be sailing through, so obviously there'll be checkpoints and three bodies of water. Yes, Indian ocean, okay, maybe the Tasman sea. Then by the time I actually set foot on Antarctic continent, I had been traveling over 100 hours in combination of a car and aeroplane and a ship. So my first emotion on facing Antarctica's expansive white landscape and uninterrupted blue horizon was relief. Followed up with an immediate and profound wonder, wonder at its intensity, its isolation, but mainly at how they could ever have been a time when India and Antarctica were part of the same landmass. So he says that children, when we are traveling and we've been traveling for a very long time, initially, maybe we enjoy the journey also, but by the time, you know, we near our destination, we are desperate to just reach there. So the moment we reach our destination, the first feeling is always relief. That okay, thank God. Finally, we've reached. So this is precisely what he felt. That okay, I've finally reached my destination. So there was profound relief, okay, finally, even traveling for 100 hours, it's quite tiring, very tedious. So there was tremendous relief on reaching the location, the Antarctic. And then of course, the writer was wondrous truck at the immensity. Okay, huge landmass and as far as the vision goes, only snow and ice, so it is something, you know, which strikes everybody with wonder, okay, with its immensity, the hugeness and the fact that it's covered with snow throughout. So at also, he wondered that how is it possible that once India was a part of this continent. So the writer says here that, you know, Antarctica was initially part of a huge supercontinent and the name of that continent was Gondwana. So India was a part of it and then a part of that continent, Gondwana, it broke away and traveled upwards, northwards and formed India. And the collision with the continent of Eurasia, it was so great that Himalayas were formed, okay, as the continent drifted apart and dashed against the Eurasia continent and India was formed and also the four mountains, Himalayas were formed. And another part, a bigger part drifted away and formed the South America, okay. So entire South American continent that was also formed and it opened up the Drake passage. Now this was Gondwana children and one part breaks away. So obviously there is sea in between it opened up the Drake passage and that was a cold current and that made Antarctica a frozen continent, according to the writer. So we'll just read it. 650 million years ago, a giant emalgamated southern supercontinent Gondwana did indeed exist, centered roughly around the present day Antarctica. Things were quite different then. Humans hadn't arrived on the global scene and the climate was much warmer. Gondwana in fact had a huge array of flora and fauna, okay, that was the time when dinosaurs were there. The weather was good in fact, it wasn't a frozen continent then. Posting a huge variety of flora and fauna for 500 million years, Gondwana thrived, so it sustained itself, okay, for 500 million years. But around the time when the dinosaurs were wiped out and the age of the mammals got underway, got underway means began. The land mass was forced to separate into countries, shaping the globe much as we know it today. To visit Antarctica now is to be part of that history. You suddenly arrived there and you wonder that, okay, India also was a part of this continent. Thousands of years back. To visit Antarctica now is to be part of that history, to get a grasp of where we have come from and where we could possibly be heading. It's to understand the significance of cauldron force and pre-cambron granite shields ozone and carbon evolution and extinction. Where you think about all that can happen in a million years, it can get pretty mind boggling. Imagine India pushing northwards, jamming against Asia to buckle its crust and form the Himalayas. South America drifting off to join North America, opening up the drake passage, to create a cold, circumpolar current, okay, circling around Antarctica, circling around the entire southern pole, south pole, keeping Antarctica frigid, desolate, desolate is alone separated from the world and at the bottom of the world, okay. So in fact, when you go there, you actually realize that, okay, what really was the past of the earth and where we are heading towards, okay. People say that in fact, you know, global warming, many of the scientists, they feel that too much of global warming that could lead to ice age. If that comes then perhaps mankind would be wiped off. She says that once we go to Antarctica, we can study what exactly was the past of the earth and maybe what lies in future. And the entire thing is very mind boggling. When you see that and you realize India was a part of it, then India, the part of which is India that floated up towards the north and collided with Asia and formed, then Himalayas and a part of South America from one one, it broke off and it opened up the drake passage. It was a cold current encircling the entire south pole and that made it a frigid continent, made Antarctica a frigid and icy continent. For a sun worshipping South Indian like myself, this is the right arrestening. Two weeks in a place where 90% of the earth's total ice volumes are stored is a chilling prospect. So one can imagine children terribly cold there, not the kind of cold that we experience here. In fact, people have to be muckled up all the time so it's a terrible thing, especially for a South Indian like me. And that place is where 90% of the earth's ice is stored. It's a terrible prospect. It's a frightening thing. Not just for the circulatory and metabolic functions, but also for the imagination. Then the writer says that it's actually very strange for the imagination also children. Suppose we are traveling somewhere and we are a little confused about the way when we are coming back. So normally we look for certain markers, human markers. You will say that I saw that building there, the street was there or I saw this holding there, this billboard there. So there are human markers in a city or generally when you are traveling in the roads also, something or the other is there by which you can identify that this is the place. Then one more thing children, what time is it? You might not be able to tell the exact time, but you will be able to guess that it's morning, whether it's afternoon or evening or night. Maybe there will be a little confusion whether it's 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock or 9 or 10 but then you know that it's night. You know that it's morning. So here you lose all sense of direction and time. So it's actually strange for the imagination also. He says that in fact Antarctica is like a huge ping-pong ball. No human markers, nothing. As far as the vision goes, you can just see snow and ice. You are there, in which part of Antarctica you are there, you can't understand. You need the compass all the time. You lose sense of direction completely, which direction I'm really traveling in. And you lose sense of time. What time is it exactly? Children, it's South Pole. You know that in the North Pole and South Pole, it's six months, daylight and six months, night. It's during this daylight time that all the research usually takes place and the people are there. The scientists are there. He says that you completely lose a sense of direction and a sense of time because it is in fact lacking in any human marker. And one more strange thing is this silence. Ubicutus silence, the writer says. Ubicutus means something which is present everywhere. That is called Ubicutus. It's very common and you find it everywhere. Children, the first time I had read this word, the person had written the Ubicutus potato. It can be in fact mixed with any vegetable. It goes with any vegetable, any kind of food, okay? Whatever the cuisine, whatever part of the world. So, Ubicutus. So, there is total silence. Ubicutus silence, which is there in Antarctica, which is again a very strange thing. Either complete silence or a deafening sound of the ice shell cracking or something breaking and the sound is completely deafening. It is so great. So, that's what the writer says. So, we'll just read it children. It's like walking, okay? It's like walking into a giant ping pong ball, devoid of any human markers, no trees, billboards, buildings. You lose all earthly sense of perspective and time here. Perspective children is direction, okay? Another meaning of perspective is view also, viewpoint also. So, that we can discuss later. It's related to proportion, okay? What is more important? What is less important? We sometimes say that, you know, one should have a sense of perspective. Whether I have to solve the problem or I have to argue with someone, I should know that I have to solve the problem first and then of course, I have all the time to argue. So, that is basically a sense of perspective. Otherwise, perspective here of course means that you completely lose sense of direction where exactly you are. Here, you know, you can understand this is east, this is west. You see the sun and you understand that, okay? It's afternoon. So, and somewhat it's towards tilting towards the east. So, you know that, you can still guess, you know? The visual scale ranges from the microscopic to the mighty, either very tiny things which you cannot see or huge children, okay? Everything there is huge in fact. Now, the then, midges and mites to blue whales and icebergs as big as countries. The largest recorded was the size of Belgium, huge icebergs, okay? Blue whales, the largest creature on earth. Either huge or really tiny and you find penguins also there, yes? Days go on and on and on in surreal 24 hour austral summer light and a ubiquitous silence interrupted only by the occasional avalanche or carving eye sheet, okay? Sudden movement of snow or the breaking eye sheet and then the sound is definitely otherwise total silence, complete silence and 24 hour sunlight, six months daylight. So, you lose sense of time. Like now children, sometimes you lose sense of the day also, yes? You're having your classes so you know that otherwise you're staying at home like Sunday. It's an immersion that will force you to place yourself in the context of the earth's geological history and for humans, the prognosis isn't good. So, you know, you'll be forced to think there. Once you are there, you'll be forced to think of one thing that this was our past and what exactly are we heading towards? See the eyes, shelves, you know, giving in breaking all this, you know, and you know that global warming, it's there, it's there for real. You can see that in Antarctica. There's no and eyes, you know, it falls into the sea. The sea levels slowly will be rising and all this effect of the global warming. Many of the low low lying areas after some years, you know, they might be inundated, they might be flooded, we might lose a few cities, a few islands, it could be as bad as that. So, in fact, when you are there in Antarctica, you are forced to think of that. When you see all this, human impact, then the writer is telling us about, human civilizations have been around for a poetry. He's very little, 12,000 years, barely a few seconds on the geological clock. If you look at the geological clock, the entire universe, from the time that maybe it has existed, it's just a few seconds that human being has made its presence. In that short amount of time, we have managed to create quite a ruckus, right? We have ruined everything. etching our dominance over nature with our villages, towns, cities, megacities, the rapid increase of human populations has left us battling with other species for limited resources and the unmitigated burning of fossil fuels has now created a blanket of carbon dioxide around the world, which is slowly but surely increasing the average global temperature. The ozone layer, it's depleting and we are responsible for it. No other creature, only man. We have, in fact, led to all the pollution that is there, all the changes in the climate, which is there, we are responsible for it. And due to the huge population of human being, we are battling with the other species for the limited resources and we are winning. We are dominating them. We are winning everything for them. If you, when sometimes children, you see in the news that, okay, an oil tanker sank in the ocean and you'll see an oil slick, the oil spreading all around and the aquatic animals, the marine animals dying. We are responsible for all that. Okay, the kind of pollution that it creates, we are responsible. So in the short period that mankind has been there, it has created quite a ruckus on the planet. Climate change is one of the most hotly contested environmental debates of our time. Will the west Antarctic ice sheet melt entirely? Will the Gulf Stream ocean current be disrupted? Will it be the end of the world as we know it? Maybe, maybe not. Either way Antarctica is a crucial element in this debate, not just because it's the only place in the world, which has never sustained a human population and therefore remains relatively pristine. Okay, pure. In this respect, but more importantly, because it holds in its ice course, half million year old carbon records trapped in its layers of ice. If we want to study and examine the earth's past, present and future, Antarctica is the place to go. Okay, Antarctica is the place where you could say the earth's records, the geological records are stored because there's no not been any human interference. Whether the earth will come to an end, life on earth will come to an end, whether we'll survive or not, what will happen? We don't know, maybe we will survive, maybe not. But if we have to study the earth's past, present and future, then Antarctica is the place. We look at it in Antarctica and you understand what is happening to the world. Then, Chairman, you know, the writer talks about this academic Shokalisky, the Russian vessel, or ship they were traveling in, talks about a student's on ice program, which was being conducted. Several students were traveling with them. And in fact, it was undertaken by Jeff Green. Okay, it was taken by a Canadian Jeff Green. And Jeff Green earlier used to take celebrities there who could spend a lot of money and they wanted a different kind of holiday experience, you know, they've traveled all over the world, seen all the places. Now they are bored too much of money to spend. So they wanted a different experience and they used to go to Antarctica and Jeff Green used to take them to Antarctica and show them the things that were to be seen in Antarctica. Then you realized that these people, okay, you know, they are very understruck, that's all, but then these people will not be able to give back anything to the planet in return. He then thought that, okay, maybe he'll be getting less money there, but he should be taking students there. He thought the youngsters there. He thought that these were the people who were the future policymakers. And these were the people who could really be influenced and made to see that what we are heading towards and they would perhaps take it more seriously. So he started this students on ice program for the students. Students on ice, the program I was working with on the Shokaliski aims to do exactly this by taking high school students to the ends of the world and providing them with inspiring educational opportunities, which will help them foster a new understanding and respect for our planet. It's been an operation for six years now headed by Canadian Jeff Green, who got tired of cutting celebrities and retired rich curiosity seekers, who could give, who could only give back in a limited way with students on ice. He offers the future generation of policy makers a life-changing experience at an age when they are ready to absorb, learn and most importantly act. Okay, he says that in fact, the children at that age, they are ready to understand, absorb and ready to act unlike the grownups. So he felt that the children should be given this exposure. Obviously, children, he wouldn't be getting the kind of money he was getting from the celebrities when he started the students on ice program and thought that I won't be taking celebrities here anymore, but still he felt that this is something which was very important because it was like educating, giving a very important piece of education to the future policy makers. They should be understanding where we are heading towards. Okay, then he says that, you know, when we see all this, when you are watching the TV and you see that okay Antarctica, you know, the ice shells, they are breaking, they are giving in, they're falling with a huge threat in fact into the ocean and you know that the global warming is causing all this. So you see all this and you do feel concerned that what is happening. But he says that we are sitting in our very comfortable latitude and longitude where we are children, it's very comfortable. Okay fine, we have changes in the season. It's going to be very humid in July and August fine, but all said and done, it's still comfortable. It's not actually the conditions are not really as harsh as in Antarctica. We are not living in really inclement or harsh weather conditions. So sitting there, you know, in the comfort of our drawing room and seeing that, okay, this is really bad, something has to be done. One doesn't learn, but going there, one can understand that what we are talking about is actually real. The reason the program has been so successful is because it's impossible to go anywhere near the south pole and not be affected by it. It's easy to be blessed about polar ice caps melting while sitting in the comfort zone of our respective latitude and longitude. But when you can visibly see glaciers retreating and ice shells collapsing, you begin to realize that the threat of global warming is very real. The glaciers, they have become shorter. Okay, the ice shells are collapsing when you see all that right in front of you. You understand that global warming is something real. Then, you know, he talks about the ecosystem in Antarctica. So there is this tiny single-celled plant, okay, Pytoplantum which is there in Antarctica. And he says that these are capable of, in fact, you know, microscopic. And these are capable of manufacturing their own food with photosynthesis, that wonderful thing called photosynthesis. And they are the base of, in fact, sustaining the entire food chain in Antarctica. So the small fish, they feed on these Pytoplantum, the bigger fish, the seal, the penguins, they must be feeding on the other fish, in fact. And that's how the food chain is sustained. Now, suppose, you know, due to global warming, due to pollution, it's Pytoplantum, we start dying, then what would happen? Entire food chain would collapse. So he says that, in fact, you know, it's very important to know that take care of the small things and the big things fall in place. Like it said, that take care of today and tomorrow falls in place. Normally, what people do, okay, and worry about the future, what will happen, okay, what are you doing about it today? Right. So it says that take care of the small things and the big things will definitely fall in place. They will be taken care of. And Antarctica, because of a simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity, too much of biodiversity is not there, okay. Is the perfect place to study how little changes in the environment can have big repercussions, they can have real big consequences. Take the microscopic Pytoplantum, these grasses of the sea that nourish and sustain the entire southern oceans food chain. These single-celled plants use the sun's energy to assimilate carbon and synthesize organic compounds in that wondrous and most important of processes called photosynthesis. Scientists warn that a further depletion in the ozone layer will affect the activities of the phytoplantum, which in turn will affect the lives of all the marine animals and birds of the region, okay. They are actually the basic thing that sustains the entire food chain there. So if they actually die, if these phytoplantins they die due to further depletion of ozone layer and further infact pollution, then the entire food chain would collapse. In the parable of the phytoplantin, there is a great metaphor for existence. Take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place. Take care of the phytoplantins, the entire food chain will survive. Phytoplantin dies, the entire food chain collapses. So the small things have to be taken care of. So then at the end you know he says that something in fact happened, something happened which actually gave a completely new experience to these people. Graham Green himself was there and also the children who were there on students on ice program. My Antarctic experience was full of such epiphany, okay, where you in fact you know feel that okay, everything connects, okay, everything is very similar. But the best occurred just short of Antarctic circle at 65.55 degrees south. The Shokhalesky had managed to wedge herself into a thick white stretch of ice between the peninsula and tadpole island which was preventing us from going any further. So it was stuck, okay, the ship was stuck. The captain decided we were going to turn around and head back north. But before we did we all were instructed to climb down the gang plank and walk on the ocean. Many times children something your car has broken and you need to push it then in fact everybody is asked to get down a very similar thing, okay, everybody was asked to get down from the ship and walk to the island. So there we were all 52 of us get it out in gotics and glares walking on star whiteness that seemed to spread out forever nothing just stretches acres and acres of snow. Underneath our feet was a mayor thick ice pack, a meter thick ice pack and underneath that 180 meters of living breathing salt water. So as they were walking, okay, they knew that okay, there is ice and beneath that ice there is the sea, the salt water and there is life there, okay, the fish, the phytoplankton, whatever, there is life there. In the periphery, grab eater seals was stretching and stunning themselves on ice flows much like stray dogs will do under the shade of a banyan tree. It was nothing short of a revelation, everything does indeed connect, okay, everything seems to be very similar, everything connects. There were seals in fact, they were lying on the piece of ice and they were sunning themselves, okay, they were just rolling about and they looked very much like the dogs, the stray dogs that we see, you know, just rolling about, they looked very much like that and they got the feeling that, you know, everything connects, everybody is different yet everybody is same. It's people in fact, you know, of different countries, is difference in the language, the culture, but then human emotions are very much the same, what gives us comfort, what gives us discomfort, very much the same. Similarly, here, you know, they were looking at the seals and they felt that they were looking very much like the dogs as they would do while in fact, sunning themselves, okay, lying there and rolling about, they looked very much like that, everything connects. Children, the way, you know, they got down from the ship, the way we would get down when the vehicle is out of order, similarly they just got down and the ship had to be turned. Next, nine time zones, six checkpoints, three bodies of water and many eco spheres later, I was still wondering about the beauty of balance in play on our planet. Okay, if you talk about ecological balance, you've read about that, you know, all the species, they have to be there. One species in fact, becomes extinct and the entire food chain suffers and there is an imbalance in read about all that children. So how important this balance is in nature and it's a delicate balance and it has to be maintained, we are actually ruining it, okay, by polluting the earth. How would it be if Antarctica were to become the warm place that it once used to be? Will we be around to see it or would we have gone the way of the dinosaurs, mammoths, mammoths were huge elephant children and the woolly rhinos. So those woolly rhinos were also very huge. So it says that, okay, then we feel that okay, will everything, you know, turn back and Antarctica would become the same place, you know, warm place with a lot of flora and fauna. And if it does happen, would be that we would be there to look at all this, to see all this and understand all this, maybe not, maybe we would have been extinct just like the dinosaurs, the mammoths and the woolly rhinos. But after spending two weeks with a bunch of teenagers who still have the idealism to save the world, all I can say is that a lot can happen in a million years, but what a difference a day makes, okay? So this person was there with the teenagers, okay? And in fact, like Graham Green felt that they were in a age where they could absorb more, understand more and in fact, act accordingly, says that, in fact, in a million years, a lot can happen. And Antarctica was a warm continent and with a great deal of flora and fauna and now it's in fact a frozen continent with a very simple food chain. So in a million years, a lot can happen, but what a difference a day makes, sometimes just one day, a few moments, it's a big learning process for us. We understand so many things by just that, okay? Right? It's pandemic children, it has taught us so much, right? We look at the migrant labors and we see that, okay, things are really bad for them. So in a day, a lot of difference can be made and in fact, we learn a lot just in a day. So they went to Antarctica and they saw all this and it was a huge learning process. You just can't think that, okay, this time, it'll take another 50 years, 100 years, I mean, it's nothing. So things might in fact go further worse, much earlier. So once you go there, you understand everything about all this global warming and where we are headed towards and if one has to study the geological past, the present and the future of the earth and understand the future of the earth, Antarctica is the place, okay? So children, have you understood? Have you understood this children? You understood the lesson? Okay, so what we can do is we can discuss the question answers in the next class, okay. Okay, children, do you think Antarctica is okay, free from pollution? Do you think Antarctica is free from pollution? Like you know, children, we discussed that there are two research centers, two Indian research centers there, Bharti and Medtri and before that we had Dakshin Gangotri, which is now the supply base. There are people there conducting a lot of research,