Miss Philippines - Earth 2017 Southern Mindanao Media conference (westeemdavao got invited!)

Hey guys so as you all know the users of this account are by no means professional bloggers and really just create content in steemit for the fun of creating content and earning through it! By no means did we ever claim to be professional bloggers.

However on this day we were graciously invited to take part of the Welcome Dinner and Media Conference of Miss Philippines - Earth 2017Southern Mindanao search! It was an honor to be invited and we did not miss this awesome opportunity to bring such an awesome pageant to Steemit!

Already on it's 18th year, the Miss Philippines Earth 2017 is on a search for a true Filipina who will be a voice and inspiration into taking care of our environment and encourage all of us to take care of mother earth! If you stop to think about it, why do we even need a pageant for this? Can't we just do something about our environment? Well if you think about it yes, but, how often has one actually done something about it. It takes a voice to bring people together, more so if you add a pretty face, a beautiful heart and an optimistic and brilliant mind to go along with it!

The current theme to which these 21 lovely women will promote is a healthy eco-tourism campaign. Makes sense to make the most out of our natural resources but taking care of it at the same time. It serves the people as a whole by bringing in more business and making sure it is sustainable and beneficial for all since taking care of the environment generally means taking care of business and our business (if you know what I mean, if not read on).

Carousel Productions was commissioned by the Miss Philippines - Earth organization to mount the official Miss Philippines -Earth 2017 Southern Mindanao Search. The main pageant competition will be held on October 29, 2017 at Abreeza Mall Davao. I think that's it for the formalities of the event I was most interested in what the candidates had to say, their stand in eco-tourism, what they actually want to accomplish and why they joined in the first place.

Now as a person who is terrible at names I can definitely still talk about their answers and to my amazement and shock, these women are in the right track to making a positive difference to our environment. Here is a list of their stand, campaign and plans:

• Creating organizations to promote taking care of the environment.I can actually agree with this one, or...we can partner with existing ones. What I'm thinking about creating a new one is that there will always be the question of where the funds will be coming from.

-Environmental education, strong advocating the 5 R's:Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Re-purpose, Recycle.I used to know there were 3 Rs not 5. Time does fly and the environment really needs our help.

• Spreading awareness via social media and traditional media outlets. I would actually prefer this over news about some celebrities love life. Let's get news that can actually contribute to society! Not the kind of news where no one gives a fudge.

-Involvement of protecting lumads who in turn protect ancestral lands. This one is genius for me. Take care of the people who are already taking care of the ancestral lands, which are often at forests which provide well needed oxygen for us human beings to live!

-Partnering with agencies and NGO's that already exist. Point number 1.

-Promoting volunteerism in environmental restoration.Also kind of associated to point number 1, but this time without having to think of money or budget. Still I would want to see the volunteers get a love gift. Perhaps I should volunteer or steemph.davao, westeemdavao get involved in it.

-Environmental health, basically taking care of our environment means taking care of our health.This actually caught me by surprise, as I was just nodded on how practical and necessary this was. Most disease comes from bacteria that basically went throughmega evolution (if you're into pokemon you'd get this) and generally meant bad news for us.

-Practical farming. Aquaponics was the one that was stated here. I think it's a great idea and hearing that they already have results in the form of lettuce means that this is good news for people who want to end or ease hunger, people who want to maximize on reusing, re-purposing and recycling! Plus I want that lettuce in my burger!

-Promotion of organic food, less to no use of chemicals. Related to the point above plus the fact that this leads to a healthier lifestyle. Most diseases also come from the chemicals used to make food grow faster or pesticides to increase crops due to killing of the parasites. While they may seem wonderful we end up paying a hefty price.

-Working towards clean water.We all need water, and clean water is the only kind of water we should technically drink. However due to pollution this will be a challenge...but with a Miss Philippines earth helping us out, it should be possible!

-Marine life protection.Why I think this is great? Simply because a huge part of their advocacy should also be towards eco-tourism. Wild life, a healthy wild life specifically can lead to a lot of people wanting to come to the Philippines to see awesome Marinelife! Also we eat a lot of fish, so if we can improve the marine life by keeping the waters clean, regulating fishing, protecting endangered species and educating our people, this can lead to an awesome future!These women hinted on these ideas and expounded on them further. Some of them have already started on their projects and have some actual data about it, specially the practical farming by the use of aquaponics. More on that topic in the future.

I am most impressed and actually look forward to this pageant. It's not one about who has the pretty face, but also on who can actually make a positive difference!

The night was lovely as each candidate got a chance to voice out their ideas and show the media who they were. More than just a pretty face and a well kept body,more than just studies, data and fancy words to make them sound smart. No they were more than that. I saw them as true Filipinas ready to make a positive change for the environmental state of the Philippines! They have the heart to make a difference and I am excited to support them! Among them were contestants who were as young as 17 years old but as tall as someone who's in their 20's (though I can't say much about height) from all parts of Mindanao (again Southern Part). I think pageant is also going to create a lot of impact considering the fact that Mindanao is under Martial Law and to see these women on this contest being concerned about the environment, I see resiliency and a fighting spirit which cannot easily be trampled. They call themselves eco-warriors as well.

The Media Conference was held at the beautiful Verdon Parc of DMCI homes, they of course being a major sponsor. Other sponsors were V Moringa Linament Oil and M&Co. Cosmetics. Before you get any ideas of what if this is a post to just make their names known, well think about it, these guy, no matter how huge they are already are sponsoring an event where someone can actually make a difference for the environment! If I can help them a little bit by simple mentioning them, then I will be most happy to site them here. Steemph.davao or westeemdavao is even invited to tomorrow's activity for them, I had to give them a "we shall see" reply since it is Sunday here tomorrow and we ought to have that day as family and rest day.

Verdon Parc had an awesome view by the way, check for your selves.

With some cool interior design and architecture.

In the end it was fun and amazing. Pretty women, an amazing advocacy and a bright future ahead of us!

For the photos, I used an old iPhone 5. Will save up for a better camera next time around.