TRANSCRIPT: Miss Earth 2024 Top 4 Q&A segment

(From left) Peru’s Niva Antezana, Iceland’s Hrafnhildur Haraldsdóttir, Australia’s Jessica Lane, and United States’ Bea Millan-Windorski. Image: Instagram/@missearth

The question-and-answer (Q&A) segment is what decided the fates of the four finalists at the Miss Earth 2024 pageant, which was held at Okada Manila in Parañaque on Saturday, November 9.

The grueling Q&A portion featured reigning Miss Earth titleholder Jessica Lane of Australia and her elemental queens: Iceland’s Hrafnhildur Haraldsdóttir, USA’s Bea Millan-Windorski, and Peru’s Niva Antezana taking on the question, “How can you promote old traditions in a world obsessed with modern technology?”

Here’s how the Miss Earth 2024 finalists fared below:

Jessica Lane of Australia, Miss Earth 2024

I, myself, am currently studying a double major of Journalism, Creative Writing, and Publishing to use modern technologies to share environmental sustainability and promote passion.

In Australia, our heritage relates to Dreamtime Stories, and they use storytelling to promote environmental sustainability and teach how to care for the land. I believe that we can use modern technology such as our journalism, such as our social media, such as news and broadcast, to share and inspire one another to be more sustainable in daily actions.

Hrafnhildur Haraldsdóttir of Iceland, Miss Earth-Air 2024

So how we can promote old traditions and heritage? It’s through educating our younger generations. They are our future and we need to educate them, especially about their heritage and how we survived back in the day.

Being from Iceland, where we have really harsh winters, we had to learn how to use our limited resources in a respectful way, and we are so proud of that. So we teach our younger generations how we did that. Thank you.

Bea Millan-Windorski of USA, Miss Earth-Water 2024

Earlier, I mentioned that I’m from a nation of immigrants. However, the first people of my country, indigenous people, said, we don’t inherit the world from our ancestors. Rather, we borrow it from our children.

And I think if we return to natural modes of production, understand the value of nature rather than trying to continuously push forward with technology, we would understand that features like peatlands actually conserve 33 percent of the world’s carbon. Our planet and its ecosystems are the most effective way to save our planet from global warming. Maraming salamat po.

Niva Antezana of Peru, Miss Earth-Fire 2024

Good evening. My Peruvian ancestors have traditions very deeply rooted and connected with Mother Earth. I would love to use social media. It is true that social media can be used in both ways, but I would use social media to promote all traditions so [that] we can teach the new generation. Thank you.