ABSTRACT
As Seamus Heaney says, ‘We live amongst the marvellous’, but all too many teenagers are so crippled by teenage angst that they don’t really spend many of their waking hours seeing or hearing or tasting or savouring the marvellous. Arguably, in the world of technology and computer games it is increasingly difficult for teenagers to enjoy an embodied, impassioned response to this beautiful planet. Instead of sitting in a grassy meadow, by the side of the river, drinking in the beauty of the buttercups and feeling the sun on their skin, many teenagers are far more likely to be in their house on the internet, texting, on their PlayStation or in some internet chat room. Arguably, more and more teenagers are becoming disconnected from this beautiful planet, from the awe of the natural world and what it is like to be really engaged with it rather than away from it.
