THE VIKING VOICE
WINTER 2021
Temperature Rising Climate Change and Shiplake by Sam Edwards Climate change is inevitable. Extreme weather is coming. The frightening reality is edging closer and closer, year by year, and is more than likely to impose catastrophic effects on us here at Shiplake. Personally, we at the Viking Voice are expecting the worst and advise that you do so too. Examples of what should be expected are: damaging ash oods, unbearable heats, scorching droughts, increased storms and high winds. Political leaders are failing to tackle these effects and our dark future is becoming darker. Many lives will be lost due to the extremity of the effects; almost 10% of our population will be homeless from sea levels rising by 2100. These are frightening facts and should be taken seriously. Can you imagine the Riverside pitches, completely engulfed, by a lethal ash ood that hits suddenly, sweeping away hoards of hopeless students? Slowly but surely, this is becoming a possible reality. We at Shiplake, are reliant upon our Riverside elds to host training for years 7 - 10; Without these, we lack the space to facilitate the high number of rugby players we house. When these inevitable oods broach us, will we have to reduce our sports offering for the affected period? No longer will we yearn for the summer to arrive, when temperatures reach an intolerable 40 degrees each day in the classroom. These extreme temperatures will make teaching and learning a grim experience for students and teachers alike. We could choose to install air conditioning units, but these are costly investments, destined to consume greater amounts of electricity, further polluting and contributing to global warming. Rainfall is expected to rise dramatically as we step closer to a warmer future. Our rowers rely on the calmness of the river in order to keep the stretch safe to row. There are certain weeks in the year when the current is deemed unsafe for rowing and the regularity of this is likely to increase exponentially. This leaves our rowers with a steady decline in training opportunities on the river to develop their personal technique.
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