TRANSCRIPT: Miss Earth 2019 ‘hashtag,’ Q and A rounds

MANILA, Philippines — Miss Earth 2019’s Top 10 candidates were given 30 seconds to elaborate on a relevant hashtag randomly assigned to them during the hashtag round in the Miss Earth 2019 coronation night. The Top 4 candidates were also asked to share their thoughts on climate change deniers during the evening’s Q&A portion.

Here’s a transcript of how the Top 10 candidates elaborated on their hashtags:

Russia – #Earth

“Our Earth is the biggest part of the universe. Our Earth is where we live so we have to save our Earth. We have to work hard with our soul to save our Earth.” 

Puerto Rico – #Respect 

“Magandang hapon, Pilipinas. This hashtag touches a lot in my heart, because it is the base of my advocacy. It is love and respect I stand for, in the family and in our Earth. By respecting one another and respecting the environment we live in, we can create a better envirionment for ourselves and for the future generations. It’s the most wonderful thing we can do for others.”

New Zealand – #Inspiration

“Inspiration is not only myself who should portray it. Inspiration is something that we learn from one another. It is when we aspire to be like someone else via inspiration. Thank you very much.”

USA – #Influence

“Mabuhay, Philippines and all the families here supporting the candidates. Influence is extremely important to me. My advocacy is working with an organization called Enactus. I actually implemented a recycling program at an elementary school. With that I’ve been able to influence them to get excited about our enviornment. They have influenced me to give back to our community even more, working for them and showing them that if you want anything, you can do it. Thank you.”

Netherlands – #Flower

“This year, it’s all about flowers. We all presented our national flowers. Mine is the tulip. It is a special flower because it helped the Dutch inhabitants survive in famine in World War 2. Flower means living, breathing, new life. Flower means our Mother Earth. Thank you so much.”

Chile – #Woman

“Mabuhay, Philippines. For me, I am a woman. I want to be an inspirational woman in the Earth. I planted more than 1000 trees just for myself. I feel that powerful woman. This is me, I am a powerful woman for all of you. Thank you.”

Belarus  – #Religion

“Hello everyone. English isn’t my native language, but I’ll try to do my best. Religion is a part of our lives. As an international person I have a lot of bloods – Belarusan, Russian, Poland, a lot. I have a lot of religions in my family. As an international person, I can tell you that you should respect every religion. You should respect everybody. Thank you so much for your question.”

Nigeria – #Freedom

“Good evening everyone. Freedom… what comes to mind when I think about freedom? You can live and be whatever you wanna be in this world as long as you persevere and work hard. You can achieve whatever goal you want to achieve. You are free to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you can think of. With this freedom, we can act in accordance to protect this environment to make this world a better place.” 

Poland – #Equality 

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My English isn’t so good. I think that each of us here – from the girls and the audience – are equal. We’re on the same level. We should respect everybody. We should respect Mother Nature on a people level. Each of us could take care of ourselves and our friends and of everbody and of our Mother Earth. Thank you.”

Czech Republic – #Technology

“Hi Philippines. I believe technology is all over the world – on their phones and the internet. For our lives, it’s good, but for our friendships and for meeting people, it’s also good. I want to lead young people to try to not use adult technlogy.”