Beauty for eco-sustainability

MANILA, Philippines - Over the last decade, the annual Ms. Earth pageant has not only crowned women based on beauty and knowledge, it has reinvented the competition with consciousness that beauty queens can be effective advocates of environmental awareness.

Unique to the beauty pageant is the necessity for the candidates to impart a genuine pledge to Mother Nature. In last December’s Ms. Earth 2011, which was held in the Philippines, the candidates’ sincerity was assessed in numerous community tours, conservation seminars and tree-planting activities.

Ms. Earth-Fire (third runner-up) 2011, Caroline Medina’s personal environmental advocacy is to promote the creation of “vertical gardens” in her home country, Venezuela, and all over the world. She believes in preserving the world’s remaining forests while turning cities and infrastructure into sustainable dwellings, where development and organic wellness can flourish mutually.

For February, Filipino brand Ever Bilena explores true beauty. It may be beauty that transcends age, color and race. Or a certain kind embodied by a few, the kind of beauty that touches and spreads itself across the environment that surrounds it.