They could become the generation who's left to clean up the mess in decades to come.
Or they could campaign hard for immediate and effective action on climate change.
That's how they see it - the young environmental advocates attending the UN's international climate change conference in Paris.
And their numbers at such conferences are increasing rapidly - from a couple of hundred to around five thousand.
They hope their growing presence prompts action from global leaders.
Sarah Abo reports from Paris.
With their drive and energy, the fresh, young faces attending the Paris climate change talks command attention.
When Bali hosted the United Nations summit in 2007, about 200 youth delegates attended the inaugural Youth Conference which preceded it.
That grew to 1,500 in Copenhagen in 2009, and six years later, about 5,000 have ventured to the city of lights.
Twenty year old Jaden Harris, is one of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition's five members accredited for the main event, COP21.
He also attended the preceding youth conference, where he met thousands of like-minded others from around the world.
"Young people have a lot at stake when it comes to climate change, and although the impacts are already being felt right now, if we don't do anything about it, we're going to be the generation who's left to clean up mess in decades to come. But on the other side, we're also the people who will be around to embrace the opportunities that the new clean energy future can provide and the tens of thousands of clean and safe jobs that we'll have and the fairer and more just society that we can create."
Though Jaden Harris is critical of Australia's greenhouse emissions targets, saying they're "back of the pack", he says there has been some positive progress.
"This year's been really exciting because one of the key themes in the leaders' speeches was that they're looking to phase out fossil fuels and they're moving rapidly towards renewable energy."
Environment Minister Greg Hunt signed the Australian Youth Climate Coalition's pledge to "do what it takes to ensure the survival of all countries and peoples".
And that is something Indigenous Australians like Paul Gorrie hope Mr Hunt stands by.
The 24 year old Gunaikurnai man says he's in Paris to protect the rights of his ancestors.
He says their lands have already felt the effects of climate change and are being destroyed by Australia's coal mines.
"Our main concern is that we're not being consulted, or allowed in these conversations, on what happens on Aboriginal land. We were the first scientists, and we have been looking after land for 60 thousand years sustainably, and we plan to do that for the next 60 thousand years."
Maori New Zealander India Logan Riley says she too is concerned about native land being destroyed, and the challenges facing her community in adapting to changing landscapes.
"It's going to happen, it's a reality, A lot of sacred sites are going to disappear as well so it's quite important that action is taken immediately. I'm scared, really, for what's going to happen to my communities, and to my younger siblings as well."
The vast beauty of Nepal isn't immune either.
Twenty year old activist Sagar Aryal founded youth global movement the Sano Sansar Initiative when he realised government action wasn't going far enough.
He doesn't want the young left behind and is calling for climate justice.
"When I was 10 years old I lived in the mountains and realised that all these mountains, they're losing the snow because of our human actions and thought that we should have more education on climate crisis and inspire people to reduce their emissions."
Sagar also has an ambitious plan to reduce the world's carbon footprint.
"The thousand billion trees that we're going to plant are not going to solve the climate crisis but they will help us mitigate one fourth of the emissions that humans beings produce every single year."
A draft of the climate text is still under review but there's still some way to go before concrete decisions are made.
Jennifer Morgan is the Global Director of the Climate Program of the World Resources.
She says the agreement will hinge on two main points.
"Number one, is whether there will be a clear signal and a turning point that the world is shifting to clean energy, bringing down emissions or not; and number two, the money - who is going to pay for the most vulnerable countries to deal with the impacts from climate change that are already happening and are going to get worse."
While several nations, such as the Pacific Islands, are pushing for a 1.5 degree target, many large developing countries are reluctant, along with some big powers.
Australian delegates say they are doing what they can to act as a broker for regional neighbours, in aiming for a 2 degree goal, with a reference to 1.5 in the text.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt is due to leave Paris after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop arrives for further negotiations.
