Teenagers are leaving school facing “every mistake previous generations have made” Westlake Girls’ High School head prefect Izzy Sheild says.

Izzy Sheild, head prefect of Westlake Girls’ High School. (SUPPLIED)

In the next 100 years the world will not be as it is today ... for all the wrong reasons. Izzy Sheild

Like Jennifer, her ambitions are about helping right those wrongs. She calls herself a “passionate and determined humanitarian” and envisions working for the United Nations in a few years, advocating for human rights, equality, and an end to conflict.

Northcote College head girl Hannah Burton also puts the blame at the feet of past generations. A “series of bad decisions influenced by greed” have damaged the environment, she says, and she worries it will be difficult to “resurrect” what’s been lost.

That’s the thing that makes climate change and environmental destruction different for this generation: It’s already changing their daily lives.

Rosmini College head boy Michael Slessor-White usually spends his holidays swimming, surfing and surf lifesaving at Auckland beaches. But last summer he was stuck on the shore after “watching the pollution warning signs go up on Milford and Takapuna beaches”.

It’s not just water quality. Tāmaki Drive flooding after severe storms; a new sinkhole opening up in New Lynn; having to raise the North Western motorway by 1.5m because of rising sea levels are all signs that Auckland’s climate is changing, Auckland Council’s chief sustainability officer John Mauro says.

Michael Slessor-White, head boy of Rosmini College.

And it’s only going to get worse. Last year, Auckland Council commissioned NIWA to produce a report on the region’s climate change projections. It found temperatures across Auckland are set to increase, which could affect productivity. We’re also likely to see more extreme weather events - including changes in seasonal rainfall patterns and more frequent droughts. Sea level rise is expected to occur more rapidly.

ACG Parnell College deputy head girl Emily Zeng is doing her bit - she’s been a vegan for two years and after finishing school plans to volunteer for a month overseas, working with animals or in a vegan bakery. She says global warming is “terrifying” and she fears her generation will live with regret once they come to terms with the consequences of their actions.

Emily Zeng, deputy head girl of ACG Parnell College. (SUPPLIED)

Although awareness for the environment is on the rise, the general consensus and attitude towards caring for the environment is pretty lax. I feel as if this problem is an urgent one and requires immediate action, especially because once the damage is done, it's practically irreversible. Emily Zeng

Katie Marshall has used her platform as deputy head girl at Marist College to encourage her classmates to embrace green practices. Now that she’s leaving school and pursuing degrees in law and the arts, she hopes to inspire more people to make lifestyle changes to reduce waste and carbon emissions.

“We are so ingrained in this new age consumerist society, that we forget about what impact each and every one of us actually has. Not everything is about completing things as easily and at as fast a pace as new aged technology has taught us,” she says.

“The problem is that people don't understand how imminent the consequences of human activity on our environment are - global warming is already affecting the Pacific Islands - and even if we do have some knowledge on problems such as plastic, everybody complains but does nothing about it.”

Because of older people’s inaction, Marshall feels it’s up to her generation to “literally save the earth”.