Miss Earth Palestine 2023

MISS EARTH PALESTINE

YARA BISHI

DESCRIBE YOUR CHILDHOOD/GROWING YEARS

I remember my childhood and growing up years as happy ones but also as years that opened up my eyes in a lot of aspects in life. My childhood was almost normal but I consider my teenage years as a big turning point in my life. In these years I started dreaming big and breaking society rules in order to make a change and leave a mark in this world. Unfortunately, these characteristics that I had made me a lot of enemies who tried to ruin things and kill my vibes and spirit. In spite of every hardship and obstacle I have faced, I’m so thankful for the things that happened which eventually helped propel changes in my life and turned me into a strong-minded lady and a huge believer and achiever.

WHAT IS YOUR MEMORABLE MOMENT?

I think my memorable moments are those of massive successes that I have accomplished. There are plenty of them, however, there are some that are indeed unforgettable. One of them is when I was chosen as one of the few models for a Versace photoshoot. Another is actually when I knew I was going to represent my country in the Miss Earth pageant this year which was a moment of success after dreaming, envisioning and planning.

ANY SPECIAL STORIES OR FACTS ABOUT YOUR FAMILY?

A lot of my family members are actually foreigners who live abroad. Almost all of them are doctors, lawyers and architects so they have planted in me this massive appreciation and love for reading, writing and learning. I also have family members that design fashion and dance. As a result, they inspire me also in the art fields that I have in my life. Lastly, I am indeed grateful for their support.

WHAT IS THE MOST UNUSUAL THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?

I believe I am a lady that always does extraordinary things and never settles for a usual life or lets herself stay in her comfort zone. Thus, I feel like most of the things I do attract the attention of others and are unusual. I have broken, multiple times, the misogynist rules and close mindedness in my society, I have been able to live a free yet respectful life in a way that resulted in helping propel a change in a lot of my society’s conventional rules and in people’s way of thinking. I also believe it is unusual to have two careers (modeling and dancing) and manage to keep getting high marks in school and university. That’s exactly what I did and I did it after a lot of disappointing voices which tried to convince me that it’s impossible to build such a life. I turned their doubts into fuel to motivate me build this unique and busy life that I dreamed of. I also take immense pride in caring for my household and pursuing my career, however, there's one unattainable wish that lingers in my heart: I wish my mother could witness all of this. We hold the belief that there's life after death, and until then, I carry her memory with me.

WHAT TIPS CAN YOU SHARE TO PROMOTE ECOTOURISM & CLIMATE CHANGE?

I think we should believe more in the effects of raising awareness and give it a bigger place in our lives since a very young age. For instance, we should include environmental education classes in school and make sure that kids understand the effects of their actions which will eventually increase recycling and environmental awareness. Furthermore, as a law student I can suggest enacting a law that can help promote ecotourism and decrease climate change. In brief, the law will obligate every tourism office to promote and include in their ads some traveling destinations where flora, fauna and cultural heritage are the main attractions. Thus, we will help open up people’s eyes and make them see the impact of humans on the environment and as a result foster a bigger appreciation of the natural habitats we have on Earth.

WHAT MAKES YOU PROUD OF YOUR COUNTRY?

I’m proud of my country for always searching for peace and promoting and highlighting human rights. Additionally, I am proud of the strong mindsets that my people have and their strong desire to always make a progress and leave a mark in a lot of fields such as agriculture. I am also proud of the special designs that we have which symbolize our culture and that’s because other than the fact that they are so uniquely beautiful, they are also mostly made of sustainable fashion that won’t negatively impact the environment.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVOCACY?

As a law student and a model who adores fashion. I would suggest enacting laws that help ban the making of clothes which damage our planet earth and make sure we use eco-friendly and recyclable clothes. I always dreamed of using my fame \ future fame as a model in order to try and change the mindset of people related to fashion shows, designers and lastly models. I want to try and change these people’s priorities so that the first thing they would think about when supporting or making fashion is our mother earth and the climate change consequences. I can clearly envision this happening in the future and I believe that hand in hand we can get to this place where we further raise people’s awareness of the subject and where climate change and preserving our earth is our top one priority.

Also, as I stated in the MUN - GALMUN Conference in the Urgent Committee of endangered species we should include environmental education classes and information in schools and other learning or even entertainment places.