Journey to the End of the Earth Class 12 Notes: CBSE 12th English Chapter 3 Vistas, Download PDF

Tanisha Agarwal

Updated: Sep 28, 2023 16:34 IST

Check the complete revision note for Class 12 Journey to the End of the World below and get free access to the PDF download link. These notes will add to your understanding of the chapter and be your last-minute revision guide during examinations.

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CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2023-2024

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NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas

Revision Notes for CBSE Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 3 Journey to the End of the World are:

About the Author:

Tishani Doshi is the author of CBSE Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 3 ‘Journey To The End Of The Earth’. She is an Indian journalist, poet, and dancer. She is an award-winning freelance writer whose works have been published in various journals and publications across India and the US. She has also worked with choreographer Chandralekha.

About the Story/ Synopsis of the Story

The story is about the author’s experience in Antarctica. It explores the concept of the richness of history, beauty, and mystery that Antarctica unfolds in front of her. She believes that if anyone wants to learn about the Earth’s past, present, and future then Antarctica is the place to be. Check the summary below to know what made the author fall in awe of Antarctica.

Theme of Journey To The End Of The Earth

The chapter aims at convincing people to respect the showering of our mother earth and understand the impact of human activities on climate change and environmental damage caused to the Earth and its natural phenomena. The author tries to impart that Earth has a rich history, an important past, and an essential future which can be best understood by visiting Antarctica. She says that humans, especially students/youth must visit Antarctica to understand how was earth formed, what is happening to it at the present, and what consequences we might have to face in the future if we don’t stop polluting our natural resources.

Character Sketches:

Author (Tishani Doshi)- She is a thoughtful, adventurous, and enthusiastic woman who is full of life and excitement. She is cheerful about knowing Antarctica and exploring it to her wits. At the same time, she is also thoughtful about the deteriorating condition of the earth and warns readers about the same. Despite all the challenges she had to go through during the trip and the heart-wrenching experience of having a close look at the degrading state of nature, she was determined and resilient towards completing the trip and later on informing young people about the damage caused by human activities.

Summary (Important Points)

• The author finds out about a Russian research vessel, Akademik Shokalskiy, that was traveling to the coldest continent of the world, Antarctica.
• After traveling for 100 hours when she touches the land of Antarctica, she finds herself relieved and amazed by the beauty, loneliness, and mystery of Antarctica. She was shocked by the fact that India and Antarctica were part of the same landmass.
• The description of how countries were formed- Six hundred and fifty million years ago, a giant amalgamated southern supercontinent, Gondwana existed near For 500 million years Gondwana thrived, but around the time when the dinosaurs were wiped out and the age of the mammals got underway, the landmass was forced to separate into countries, shaping the globe much as we know it today.
• She says that Antarctica is a reflection of the past, history, and the future that will come ahead of us. It is significant to understand the Cordilleran folds and pre-Cambrian granite shields; ozone and carbon; evolution and extinction.
• Description of Antarctica- 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. The visual scale ranges from the microscopic to the mighty: midges and mites to blue whales and icebergs as big as countries. 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 calving ice sheet, consecrates the place. 
• Human Impact- The rapid increase of human populations has left us battling with other species for limited resources unmitigated burning of fossil fuels has now created a blanket of carbon dioxide around the world, which has increased the earth’s average global temperature. Climate change, melting of ice sheets, disruption of ocean currents, and more can take place in the near future.
• Since Antarctica displays history, and is a crucial element in the present and reflection of the future, she says that Antarctica is the place to be for knowing Earth’s past, present, and future.
• Students on Ice was the student program she was in. It is aimed at taking high school students to the ends of the world and providing them with inspiring educational opportunities that will help them foster a new understanding and respect for our planet. With Students on Ice, he(head of the program, Geoff Green) offers the future generation of policy-makers a life-changing experience at an age when they’re ready to absorb, learn, and most importantly, act.
• It became famous because it’s easy to be blasé 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 shelves collapsing, you begin to realize that the threat of global warming is very real.
• Phytoplankton, are those grasses of the sea that nourish and sustain the entire Southern Ocean’s food chain and they help in producing the process of photosynthesis. Scientists warn that a further depletion in the ozone layer will affect the activities of phytoplankton, which in turn will affect the lives of all the marine animals and birds of the region and the global carbon cycle.
• Antarctica, because of its simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity, is the perfect place to study how little changes in the environment can have big repercussions.
• Before putting an end to their program, they decided to walk on the ocean. They walked on a stark whiteness that seemed to spread out forever. Underneath our feet was a meter-thick ice pack, and underneath that, 180 meters of living, breathing, salt water.
• As the program was about to end, she realized that the youth might have the enthusiasm to end the environmental misery. She says, “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!”.

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