Green, glam and gorgeous!

With not a woolly jumper to be seen, 15-year-old Cara McCourt from Munterconnaught is a long way from the stereotype of the earthy tree-hugger, but her heart is set on becoming 'the queen of green'. Just finished her Junior Cert exams, Cara has been accepted as a finalist for Miss Teen Ireland, a national contest which is the gateway to the Miss Teen Earth contest. This teenage category of the Miss Earth contest is a beauty pageant with a social conscience. The winner is an environmental ambassador, a role model for looking after the Earth - "Ireland's green, glam and gorgeous role model for the future generation". A student at St. Oliver's secondary school in Oldcastle, Cara went to London for a professional photo-shoot, and is delighted to have a place in the national contest on September 3. "I'm really excited, but not nervous," she says. Cara went to classes in the Let's Dance Academy stage school when she was younger and loved it. Being a model, is one of many dreams for the teenager, who'd also like to be an actress, and intends to study psychology when she's finished her schooling. For the current summer holidays, Cara is on a mission to promote environmental awareness. When she applied online for the contest, she shared her philosophy that "we should look after the environment for future generations like previous generations looked after it for us" Cara and her family are great believers in the "power of one". They bring laundry in and out to the washing line in the summer rather than use a dryer, use energy-saver light bulbs, never put on the dishwasher or washing machine unless there's a full load and so on. The fashion enthusiast is also going to declutter her wardrobe and give away the overspill for re-use. "It's going to be hard," says the teen. "As soon as you give something away, it comes back into fashion!" "But her younger cousins love to see her coming with stuff for them," says her mum, Michele. Cara also intends to organise a clean-up in the area around the Lakeside Manor hotel on the shores of Lough Ramor. The Lakeside and Cloud Nine health and beauty studio, Oldcastle are both sponsoring Cara to compete for the Miss Teen Ireland title. Cara is also set to raise funds for Miss Earth's community project, Girls4Trees, where funds raised from participation in Miss Earth will go to organisations and schools to help fund street clean-ups and community projects. "I hope I can help transform parts of Virginia and surrounding areas that need some tender loving care," says the beauty pageant hopeful. This will be the first time a Miss Teen Earth from Ireland will have been selected and the second year an Irish girl has represented Ireland at the International Miss Earth. The 2010 Miss Earth Ireland winner was third level science student, Alesha Gallen from Donegal.