Less than 12 months ago, Castlemaine students Harriet O'Shea Carre, Milou Albrecht and Callum Neilson-Bridgfoot held their first climate strike - and the first in Australia - after being inspired by teenager Greta Thunberg's protest in Sweden.
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Their actions were instrumental in firing up the strike movement that last Friday saw millions of people in towns and cities across the world - including an estimated 350,000 in Australia - protest for more urgent action on the climate crisis.
Now 15-year-old Harriet has participated in the United Nations' first-ever Youth Climate Summit, held in New York City last weekend.
Harriet was invited to attend as one of the young people from around the world leading the way on climate change action.
"It was a forum to bring people together from all over the world who are impacted by climate change in entirely different ways, and people who are all committed to making changes and coming up with creative solutions to the problems they're experiencing," Harriet said.
"So it was a really great opportunity to see all those people, because that's what really separates the climate movement from other human rights issues and movements is that it really does affect everyone."
For Harriet, it was interesting to learn more about the various factors contributing to climate change and the various innovative ways people across the world were addressing the problem - for example, a kitchentop 3D printer that could transform plastic waste into new items and storing carbon in home construction were among the ideas put forward.
"I want to try to publicise it and share the stuff I learnt with as many people as possible, because I think it was really important and valuable," she said.
"With this summit... only a very limited number of people could come in comparison to how many people were applying and wanted to come, so it's really important that I can use my really lucky position in getting a place there to share the stuff that I learnt."
Now back home, Harriet also plans to take her own steps to offsetting the carbon emissions from her travel by planting trees with the assistance of the Castlemaine Landcare group, even though it was already carbon neutral.
Harriet was in New York at the same time Prime Minister Scott Morrison was in the US.
While Foreign Minister Marisa Payne and Ambassador for the Environment Patrick Suckling attended the UN Climate Summit, Mr Morrison did not.
Instead, he said Australia was well-represented and later said Australia was "doing its bit" on climate change.
It's a stance Harriet strongly disagrees with, especially given the hundreds of thousands of Australians who turned out for last week's strike to demand greater action from the country's leaders.
"It is not enough if people are still dying and having their lives ripped apart - which they are right now, and it's only going to continue to get worse," she said. "It's not enough if people like me have to make the choice between my education and my future, and that's not a choice I should have to make, and he's putting me in that position by not acting.
"It's enough for him and his future, but not enough for my future, not enough for the futures of so many other young people around the world."
The prime minister also said he did not want young people facing "needless anxiety" over climate.
Harriet's father, Dave, said there was a lot of anxiety, but he did not think it was needless.
Doing something about the issue relieved this worry, he said, and his daughter was banding together with her peers to do something for the greater good.
The young people who have participated and fronted in this climate action movement have faced some significant backlash, particularly from people who do not believe in human-driven climate change.
But Harriet said she believed the critics were privileged people who were better able than most to secure their own future in the face of climate change.
There have also been personal attacks, particularly aimed at Greta Thunberg as the most prominent face of the cause, but Harriet sees that as a sign their movement is achieving something.
"They attack us personally as people because they can't attack our movement," she said.
"They're trying to distract people from the facts and the figures, because as soon as they accept we're in a catastrophe, they have to start taking responsibility and taking action, and that means giving stuff up.
"People don't want to do that."
The movement has gained mountains of support in the relatively short time since Harriet, 14-year-old Milou and 12-year-old Callum decided to take action last year and rallied the support of their classmates.
They came up with the idea after Milou learnt of Greta, then a somewhat unknown teenager who had embarked on her solo strike in Sweden, and even Skyped the Swedish teenager with the aim of connecting their actions as a united movement.
Harriet was in New York for last week's momentous event and participated in the Manhattan protest, an experience she said was "incredible".
She believed the huge numbers of people who took part in the strike did so because they realised action was vital for not only their futures but the futures of others, especially those in less privileged parts of the world.
"It's the people who contribute the least to this problem that suffer the most from it," Harriet said.
"I think people in Australia are starting to realise - especially children - that although we don't necessarily have a say in the political system, because we can't vote, we do have a voice in comparison to the people who are suffering the most from this right now.
"We do have a voice and we need to use that voice for the people who really need it."