A NEW environmental warrior who will champion sustainability has been crowned at the 2025 Miss Earth pageant, and she is Natalie Puskinova of Czech Republic.
Puskinova inherited the title from Jessica Lane of Australia at the culmination of the 25th Miss Earth coronation ceremonies held at the Cove Manila club of Okada Manila in ParaƱaque City on Wednesday evening, Nov. 5.
The new queen bested 81 other aspirants, and is expected to take part in projects that aim to combat the effects of climate change under the banner āBeauties For A Cause.ā
Three other elemental queens were crowned. Soldis Ivarsdottir of Iceland settled for the Miss Earth-Air title, which she inherited from Hrafnhildur Haraldsdottir of Iceland.
Filipino-American beauty Bea Millan-Windorski of the United States relinquished her Miss Earth-Water crown to Mu Anh Trinh of Vietnam, while Waree Ngamkham of Thailand rounded up the winnersā circle as Miss Earth-Fire.
The Philippinesā Joy Barcoma failed to make the cut and finished in the Top 8 despite her spectacular answer in the question-and-answer portion.
Aside from Barcoma, the three other ladies in the Top 8 who did not advance to the final round were proclaimed runners-up, as is customary of the Miss Earth pageant. They are Nathalie Briones (Chile), Laila Frizon (Brazil), and Mariia Zheliaskova (Ukraine).The Miss Earth pageant was established in 2001 by Carousel Productions as a platform for promoting environmental awareness, along with the counterpart national competition Miss Philippines Earth.
Connecting with Filipinos
In the last segment of the coronation show, the Top 4 finalists were then subjected to another round of Q&A, wherein each were asked the same question: āBill Gates, a leading proponent for carbon emissions reduction, recently proposed that resources must be shifted away from the battle against climate change to efforts that prevent disease and hunger. Do you agree? Why or why not?ā
Puskinovaās winning answer was: āI am not here today to pick a finger and choose what is worst, whether itās environmental causes or social problems. I believe that even though I live in the other side of the world, we are still facing the same climate change and we are facing this issue together,ā she said.
What made her stand out during this segment was when she added her reply in Filipino, āI believe that if we all unite, we can prevent both hunger and environmental causes. And one message I wanna say, protektahan natin ang kalikasan (Let us protect nature),ā she said.
Before she bagged the Miss Earth crown, Puskinova was an early favorite, being chosen as the leader in the āWaterā group in pre-pageant events. The 21-year old marketing and PR student is a certified scuba diver whose passion is ocean conservation. (Armin P. Adina Ā© Philippine Daily Inquirer)
