Miss Earth 2011 Pageant happens in Manila on December 3

The 89 candidates for Miss Earth 2011 arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday for the beauty pageant slated to take place on December 3. But before these beauties compete for the coveted crown, they will first embark on a mission to help, protect and save the environment.

Five of them visited the Manila Times office on Wednesday—Miss Panama Marelissa Him Betancourt, Miss Dominican Republic Sarah Feliz, Miss Northern Ireland Alixandra Halliday, Miss Hungary Dora Szabo and Miss Guatemala Ana Luisa Montufar.

According to the beauty queens, they and the other 84 contestants will go on a nationwide tour to plant trees during their two-week stay in the country.

They will be divided and sent into small groups of five or six so that they will cover as many areas in the country as they could, one of the contestants explained.

Aside from the tree-planting activities, the candidates will also visit different schools and teach children the value of Mother Earth.

The five beauties, in particular, believe in the importance of educating children on this issue and although each is involved in different environmental advocacies in their respective countries, all agreed that children are the Earth’s “future.”

Miss Panama, for one, has led a nonprofit organization in her country to find young local leaders in schools or communities. She said that they taught them sustainable ideas and plans that they would, in turn, teach to their communities.

For her part, Miss Dominican Republic said, “I go to schools to talk to children. Unlike adults who don’t listen because they already have their bad habits, it’s easier talking to children because you only need to tell them that it’s bad [for the environment] and they won’t do it.”

Miss Guatemala agreed. “We should start with the education of our children because they are the future,” she said.

The five beauties believe that climate change is the biggest threat that Mother Earth is facing. They said that simple, everyday activities like walking to work instead of driving and segregating and recycling garbage could help address this threat.

The Miss Earth 2011 grand coronation night will take place on December 3 at 7 p.m. at the University of the Philippines Theater. It was originally scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, but the worsening floods there forced Carousel Productions to move the venue again to the Philippines.

By Euden Valdez