She was the school’s environmental prefect and attended the Blake Inspire residential leadership development programme.
"I just did lots of things ... I learned a lot about the environment and climate change."
But when she moved to Dunedin to attend the University of Otago, she began to be disheartened by the enormity of environmental challenges.
She saw fellow students not engaged with efforts such as composting or putting rubbish in recycling bins.
This seemed to be because there was a sense of "what is the point?", she said.
"Because, you know, there are big businesses that are not doing anything, so why should I?"
She felt herself having the same attitude and not caring as much about the environment, thinking there was no point.
Looking on social media, she would read stories such as the United States’ government approving the Willow project, a massive new oil drilling project in Alaska.
"Lots of just bad things that are happening to the environment."
When she came across the term "climate anxiety", she began to understand how she was feeling.
Giving her feeling a name was a validating moment.
Miss Mirams decided to help others by founding a startup called Climate Anxiety which would explain the term and give young people a way of understanding their emotions.
She had been interviewing students about how they felt about climate change, and finding out some of the challenges, Miss Mirams said.
"The biggest thing I noticed with students was that going to the supermarket, they felt that they did not have the purchasing power to be environmentally friendly."
Students could then feel guilty about their purchases — "seeing an environmentally friendly dishwashing liquid but you can’t afford it".
She hoped to help young people, first by validating their experience, then by acknowledging climate anxiety existed and what it felt like.
She planned to provide information by way of social media and pop-up events.
A need for positivity could be a way to help break the cycle of "doom and gloom".
If young people were able to experience a more balanced view, such as seeing examples of when a corporation was doing a good thing, it could make young people feel more motivated to contribute to positive change in their own environmental approach.
Sometimes having honest and open chats could help alleviate some of the anxiety, she said.
"A lot of people said that sometimes climate change can be quite a taboo subject to talk to people about."
Being open to having "raw conversations about how they feel" could reduce the level of climate anxiety.
"I think that would be a good thing to help."
