Phl’s Karen Ibasco wins Miss Earth 2017

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Karen Ibasco, a 26-year-old licensed physicist and university instructor from Manila,  won the Miss Earth 2017 pageant to the cheers of a hometown crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.

The crown was passed on to her by outgoing queen Katherine Espin from Ecuador.

Other winners in the pageant were Australia’s Nina Robertson as Miss Earth Air 2017; Russia’s Lada Akimova, Miss Earth Fire 2017; and Colombia’s Juliana Franco, Miss Earth Water 2017.

 Ibasco, who studied applied physics and medical physics at the University of Santo Tomas, impressed both the judges and the audience with her reply during the question and answer segment of the pageant.

For the first segment, the Top 8 finalists were given 30 seconds to express their thoughts on a selected hashtag. Ibasco picked the hashtag#biodiversity.

 “Biodiversity is very important. We are very known in the Philippines to have a lot of biodiversity, and they’re very important because they also balances the ecosystem. It’s very important for us to protect them, because as we protect them, we protect the environment to help save our home, our planet, our Earth, to be a better place to live in. Thank you,” she said.

For the next segment, thewv four finalists were asked the question: “Who or what do you think is the biggest enemy of Mother Earth and why?”

Karen resplied: “I believe that the real problem in this world is not climate change; the real problem is us because of our ignorance and apathy. What we have to do is to start changing our ways, to start recalibrating our minds, and redirecting our steps, because together, as a global community, our micro efforts will have a macro effect to help save our home, our planet. Thank you.”