Bronwyn O’Connell was crowned Miss Earth Ireland on Saturday night.
The 27 year-old Aer Lingus cabin crew member will represent Ireland in the Miss Earth final in the Philippines later this year.
Speaking to Goss.ie, the Dublin native opened up about her win, and revealed her plans to make the aviation industry more environmentally friendly.
The model said: “I entered Miss Earth Ireland because I care about the earth. I feel pageants are a great way to voice your concerns and you actually get listened too.”
“Miss Earth Ireland has a focus on the environment and how we can all be sustainable. I wanted to be part of Miss Earth because I have a huge concern over our marine life and the damage we our causing to our beaches and the sea.”
“As I am cabin crew, it is very concerning how aircraft’s effect our environment. We do need airplanes in the world to connect us, but we can all definitely educate ourselves on how we can all have a more sustainable and eco friendly flight.”
Bronwyn continued: “It will be such an honour to wave the Ireland flag with such pride in the Philippines this year. I will be working very hard to try and achieve my goals that I set out.”
“I will be also working closely with my amazing mentors who have been so amazing to me and so supportive I honestly couldn’t ask for a better team to get me ready for this once in a lifetime opportunity.”
“Global warming is present it is not going away. We all need to be aware of it, we have caused this issue and it is time we all take stand and fix it. We all need to do our part and educate ourselves on what we can all do. The world will not change until we do.”
“When I was crowned Miss Earth 2021 on Saturday night, I was completely shocked. The finalists were all amazing and I am not just saying that. We all made such good friends and everyone of the girls worked so hard on the run up to the final.”
“Miss Earth Ireland was such a positive, happy experience to take part in. It is so important we all mind our earth and it’s great that we have a whole pageant that is dedicated to making this happen.”
“With my new title, I will continue to educate not only my generation but generations to come across my social media platforms. I will be doing my weekly beach clean ups, and making people aware of how we can all protect our marine life.”
“As I work in the aviation industry, my goal is to try and get recycling on board and to reduce less waste ending up in landfill. We all need to make simple smart changes so our earth can start to heal,” Miss Earth Ireland said.
“We can all do a lot to make the aviation more environmentally friendly. I love to travel and see new places around the world as do a lot of people. If we all make the simple changes we will all be making big changes to our environment.”
“Choose to fly with more environmentally friendly airlines. Take a non-stop flight rather than one with a layover. This in turn reduces the amount of fuel burned when landing and taking off. And pack light – the lighter the aircraft the less fuel burned.”
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Miss Earth Ireland’s mission is “beauties for a cause” and promotes environmental awareness, conservation, sustainability and social responsibility as well as to highlight the Irish tourism industry and all it has to offer.
Alan Murphy, Miss Earth Ireland Director, told Goss.ie: “We are all so delighted and proud to have Bronwyn as our winner and she will make a truly amazing ambassador for this country and for Miss Earth Ireland at the international final in the Philippines later this year.”
“Bronwyn is a very special person with a huge passion for making a real difference. We are so excited to follow her journey. This is only the beginning for her, she’s going to change the world.”
