The narrator boarded a Russian research ship the ‘Akademik Shokalskly’. It was heading towards the coldest, driest and the windiest continent in the world, Antarctica. Her journey began 13.09 degrees north of the Equator in Madras (Chennai). She crossed nine time zones, six checkpoints, three bodies of water and at least three ecospheres. She travelled over 100 hours in car, aeroplane and ship to reach there.

Six hundred and fifty million years ago a giant southern supercontinent Gondwana did indeed exist. It centred roughly around present-day Antarctica. Human beings hadn’t arrived on the global scene. The climate at that time was much warmer. It supported a huge variety of flora and fauna. When the dinosaurs became totally extinct and the age of mammals began, the landmass was forced to separate into countries as they exist today.

The purpose of the visit was to know more about Antarctica. It is to understand the significance of Cordilleran folds and pre-Cambrian granite shields; ozone and carbon; evolution and extinction. Ninety per cent of the earth’s total ice volumes are stored in Antarctica. Icebergs are as big as countries. Days go on and on in 24-hour austral summer light.

The most hotly contested debate of our time is whether West Antarctica Ice sheet will melt entirely or not. If we want to study the earth’s past, present and future, Antarctica is the place (for us) to go. Antarctica has a simple ecosystem and lacks biodiversity. It is the perfect place to study how little changes in the environment can have big repercussions (results). Scientists warn that a further depletion of the ozone layer will affect the lives of the sea animals and birds of the region. It will also affect the global carbon cycle.

The burning of fossil fuels has polluted the atmosphere. It has created a blanket of carbon dioxide around the world. It is increasing the global temperature which Ís visible at Antarctica when we see Icebergs melting away. It shows how minor changes in the atmosphere can cause huge effects.

If the global temperature keeps on increasing the human race may be In peril. Students on Ic& is a programme which provides the students an ample opportunity to understand how global temperature can be a big threat to human existence. It inculcates a new understanding in them. Geoff Green thinks that high school students are the future policymakers. They can help in saving the earth from ecological dangers and the effects of global warming.

The author gives us an example to show how small changes In the atmosphere can be threatening, The microscopic phytoplankton are single-celled plants. They nourish the entire Southern Ocean’s food chain. They use the sun’s energy to assimilate carbon and supply oxygen. Any further depletion In the ozone layer may affect this functioning and Indirectly affect the lives of all marine animals.

Walk on the Ocean – It was the most thrilling experience of the visit. They climbed down the gangplank and walked on the ocean. They were 52 persons. They were walking on a metre- thick Ice pack. Under the ice pack, there was 180 metres of living, breathing saltwater. Seals were enjoying themselves in the sun on ice. The narrator was wondering about the beauty of the place. He wished It would not become a warm place as it used to be millions of years ago. If it happens. the results can be ruinous.