Feature: Temperature Rising

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 flash floods, 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 flash flood 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 fields 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 floods 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.

As a result of the rising heat, we at Shiplake should expect an increase in wildfires, in addition to a multitude of other natural disasters. Though wildfires here in the UK are rare when compared to the likes of those in California and Australia, if the climate were to reach the same extreme temperatures as the regular ones in aforementioned destinations, we may begin to face similar intensity to those who endure such tragedies.

At Shiplake we are surrounded by a woodland of many beautiful and rare species of tree. However, in the future these trees could act as the principal fuel for a fierce and untamed fire burning across the site, making its way from the treasured Skipwith house, spreading up the driveway, as chemicals from the labs intertwine with the undeniable flames, detonating the remains of our cherished school.

There are predicted high winds for the future that could cause huge amounts of damage to infrastructure. A large number of our students rely on buses and other means of transportation to travel to and from school each day. If these bus routes were to become blocked by trees, many of the students would be rendered incapable of simply journeying to school. Could these problems mean we must fall back upon the inefficient and draining use of online school that tortured each and everyone of us in the remote learning period of last year.

All of these possible outcomes are the result of our own contribution in pushing our Earth’s climate into a crisis mode. The unsettling dystopian future is threateningly close, and though we may not see these effects in their full force during our lifetimes, what are we leaving for the future generations? Doomsday. Cities will fall. Wildlife will burn. Could this rising climate kill us all? It has happened before. And what of us at Shiplake? A dreadful fate for us all!