Bea Kim: Snowboarding's thrifting queen champions sustainability

I'm very lucky to say that I've created an environment and a career for myself where I get to be outdoors most of the time and most of my days. It's the International Day of Sport in April 2024. Becam, just 17 years old at the time, is on the floor of the United Nations in New York and she's there to deliver an impassioned speech. Through my travels as a professional snowboarder, I've gone around the world to Europe and New Zealand training and competing and I've seen one common theme throughout. There's a dramatic pause. The world is changing, the glaciers are melting that we're actually riding on, our winchers are starting later, the weather patterns are becoming more erratic. And then the hammer. Each year we wonder if they'll even be enough snow for us to compete and do what we love. On the outside, B looks confident, delivering that mic drop moment. But on the inside, I was so nervous. That was my first actual public speaking engagement. I can't even remember honestly, you're probably blacked out that first bit and maybe even when I was speaking, I probably spoke way too fast. Up would inspire B to fly from the big mountains to the big apple to trade a snow suit for a suit vest to speak to the UN about climate change. It's crazy to me to think that in the future none of this could be here for the next generation and for my future kids and grandkids to see. Meet B Kim, your new favorite Olympian. Hi everyone, I'm MBC journalist Chase K and I'm excited to be joined by my very accomplished co-host, he made history by becoming the first openly gay man to compete for Team USA in a Winter Olympics in 2018. That's where he earned a bronze medal in the figure skating team event. He was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People and he won, dancing with the stars. He is none other than Adam Ripon. This is my new favorite Olympian, where you will get to know all of Team USA's brightest stars and the causes they're fighting for. My new favorite Olympian is brought to you by Akira, proud partner of Team USA. Akira has always celebrated gatherings that bring people together. From the Sundance Film Festival to the Akira Grand Prix of Long Beach, we're proud to power the moments that move us all. The Akira ADX continues that tradition, featuring Google built-in, Akira watched safety and craftsmanship, built for every road we share. When B talks about climate change, she tries to connect with people by relating it to what they love doing outdoors. Growing up in Southern California, B's childhood core memories come from the ocean. Well, when her parents could coax her into the water. I think I was a pretty cautious kid. I think they would probably honestly describe me as a bit of a scary cat, which is a little juxtaposition given my current sport. And before B was a snow border, B was a surfer, but not a really good one. For anybody who's tried to surf and tried to learn how to surf, it's very difficult. And the waves are even more inconsistent than the weather on the mountains. And I think when I snowboarded for the first time, I kind of got this feeling of it's like an endless wave, which is so corny and so cringy. But it really was. I mean, you could carve down the mountain, you know, exit out of the times and you only catch a few waves in session. These parents also took her camping often, for good reason. I have a little brother and he's four years younger than me. And we also found that we didn't fight as much when we were outside like playing in the river by mistakes camping. Big Sur was a popular camping destination for the Kim family. The campsite was half in the Redwoods and half at the beach. So you could like pick which one you wanted to camp at, but then get the best of both worlds. And it's so pretty there. Oh, it's my favorite place. When they could get there. Fire in your big sir, you can just see how close the flames got to burning the iconic Bixby Bridge mandatory evacuations are underway and highway one is closed this morning. This is highway one. Well, what's left of it? South of Big Sur, this section as you could see has crumbled into the Pacific Ocean. It's genuinely insane. The campsite that we would go to. We haven't been able to go back the past few years because of fires and mudslides. It wasn't just bees favorite camping spawn in Big Sur that was being impacted by the effects of climate change. No, climate change is also wreaked havoc on her livelihood as a professional snowboarder. I would go to these same places the same time every single year and one year would be an exceptional snow year and there would be so much snow. We would be snowed in powder days, which is not good for pipe training, but lots of powder days. And then we come back the next year and there's dirt and you're walking to the chairlift instead of riding down to it because there's not enough snow. So it's kind of hard to ignore. It was a gradual kind of realization of I've gone to all these different places, both in all over the US and all over the world and obviously they're all very different, but there's one common theme throughout all of them and that is they are being affected by climate change. Be decided to do something about it. Be connected with the climate advocacy organization Protect Our Winters, also known as PAL, which was founded by professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones to turn outdoor athletes into climate advocates, who worked together to protect a future with clean air, clean water and a healthy planet. Protect Our Winters was the organization that arranged for B to speak at the UN. They also arranged a trip for her to go down to DC to speak at the US Capitol. I felt that one I couldn't watch it happen and not say anything about it, but also I realized how quickly the danger of losing snow and losing winter and losing the future of my sport was and how real it really was becoming. Speaking up is not always easy. Be told us that she has anxiety, but she chooses to face it because she knows the importance of using her voice. That's honestly what keeps me coming back to snowboarding, I think, is the mental challenge of kind of overcoming those anxieties to do something that is so hard because once you do overcome it, it's so exciting. So it's kind of my greatest enemy and my best friend at the same time, I think. She is sort of the ultimate underdog, you know, and I think the things that she sort of takes on are these things that are bigger than her. That's B's proud father, Drew. She's doing just as much probably work there as she is in training to become an Olympian. It's a big thing for her and something that is something that takes a lot of information and learning and, but she's kind of taken that on and become an advocate for, for climate as well. One of my favorite things about getting to know B and her dad was learning the way that her dad decided to stay warm while on the slopes waiting for B during training and competition. So if you see him on TV during the Winter Olympics, he might not just be standing there. He's probably going to be doing push ups. I had to figure out a way to just stay alive, to be quite honest. So I started doing push ups and it kind of became a thing, you know, and made a lot of friends up there who were like, that's a great idea. We should do them too. So there were a lot of moments where, okay, there's these dad again doing push ups. But it was, it was a great thing to stay in shape, stay warm. And it was kind of like a comic relief kind of thing as well amongst some of the group. So you know he is in good shape, but okay, back to B. He doesn't just use her voice, she's very intentional with her actions. She vets her sponsors and makes sure to only partner with brands who share her values. When you're with a partner and working with a sponsor, you're a direct representation of them and they're a direct representation of you. And so I've aligned myself with partners that are environmentally friendly and environmentally conscious and are trying to use recycled plastics and recycled materials. I'm very proud to stand with the partners that I do. Chase, when I was competing, I could not wait to wear the new Team USA gear they give us. I mean, I'm sure, like everybody looks good when they're wearing that. B also gets excited, but even more excited for old gear, we can call it previously loved. B's mom started taking her thrifting when she was little. In thrifting, for those of you who have never tried it, I want to know who these people are. But if you have never tried thrifting, it's going shopping for used clothes at second hand stores, garage sales, flea markets. B quickly fell in love with thrifting, the thrill of the hunt, finding something one of a kind. It's easy to do. It's fun. It's enjoyable. I like it a lot more than going to the mall. Yeah, there's lots of clothes out there already. So you just got to dig a little and find the ones that fit your style. And she's, I think, much better at it than either of us would be. But when we talk to her, we ask her to a fit check and show us her favorite finds. In case, obviously, she's slater looks. This jacket is my like, prized possession. I got it thrifting in Japan, and I wear it everywhere. It's great for when I'm in cold climates. It's this, what I think is the perfect leather jacket. It's nice and oversized, goes with everything, keeps me warm. I have found that second hand, and the day I found it, I was so excited. And I think the back is pretty, pretty plain and basic. But yeah, nice, lots of nice pockets, oversized, instead of sweatshirt underneath. It's great. I love to be's answer when you asked her what she would wear if she could thrift her look for the half pipe. Honestly, it would probably be something like this jacket that I just showed you. Pretty simple colors. I don't tend to go for the flashiest colors and a sick jacket and maybe a cold beanie and that I'm set. I mean, she would totally look like bee. And for anyone wondering why we're talking about fashion in the context of climate change, were you wondering that? I was wondering. You was, as we're maybe some of you. And it's actually because the pollution produced by the fashion industry is greater than all international flights and global shipping combined and then get this. More than 85% of all clothes end up in landfills. So every item that we go and thrift and wear again, we're actually keeping that out of a landfill and helping offset this big problem. So for bee thrifting is one of the small ways she can try to make a big difference. I know each person has their own kind of sustainability goals and we're all very imperfect advocates. You know, none of us are perfect in the way that we live our lives. I traveled the world. My carbon footprint is enormous thrifting and secondhand shopping is definitely one way that I try to combat that a little bit. So what is bee's advice for us aspiring thrifters? I go back and forth on if it's better to go in with a list or just to go in, like, free. Because sometimes you go in with a list and then you get let down. Sometimes you go in with no list and find exactly what you're looking for. My main tip is don't buy the first thing you pick up. Like go around, if you're like in a flea market, go around to all the different shops and different stalls. And if you're still thinking about that one thing, 10 shops later, then go back and buy it. That way it'll prevent you from just grabbing something and being like, oh, yeah, I definitely want this one. It's two seconds in. Accura has always celebrated gatherings that bring people together. From the Sundance Film Festival to the Accura Grand Prix of Long Beach, we're proud to power the moments that move us all. The Accura ADX continues that tradition featuring Google built-in Accura Watch Safety and Craftsmanship. Built for every road we share. Let's go back to where we started this episode on the floor of the United Nations. B is ready to escape to the privacy of the bathroom after delivering her speech. I had just finished speaking and I was probably a sweaty, shaky, like, disaster at a mess. And I was just so relieved that I had not reformated on the table. But before she could get very far. UN delegate for Monaco comes up to me and she was surrounded by security guards and all of her people. They're like, come on, you have to get out. We have to leave the room. We have to go to her and she stopped and looked me in the eye and shook my hand and said, I really appreciate what you had to say today. It means a lot that the next generation cares and is trying to do something. I was in shock because that was like the highest political figure I'd ever, you know, type of person I'd ever met before. And the fact that she took the time to say those kinds words really meant a lot. It was like a definitely realization moment where I was like, oh, I maybe do have a little bit more weight with my words than I thought I did. Since then, B has continued to use her words to make an impact. It can definitely be a tricky situation, especially because climate change is such a heavily politicized topic. But it really shouldn't be. It's an issue of the human race and a battle that we should all be fighting together because the world doesn't care what's out of the aisle. You sit on and the world doesn't care which way you vote and climate change does not care about that. It's going to change either way. So hopefully we can come together and not care about those things in this particular fight as well. Looking back to your journey, when do you think you realize just how much impact you could have by speaking out? I think maybe the first time I decided to speak out or say something that was on my mind or something that was important to me, I was I think like anybody would be nervous to do that or worried that there'd be some sort of like repercussions. But when I was able to share things that were important to me, you know, like my identity and things that I believed in politics, that's really where I felt like so empowered and I felt so much strength from that and it feels a lot like what B was talking about how she found her voice on that UN floor of like that's where she really found like the strength in that moment and I can relay my own experiences to what she's talking about. You've also traveled the world competing in the Winter Olympics, competing in other skating competitions now in your work within BC. When you've been to these places around the world, what have you noticed about the impact of climate change in some of these spots? I think, you know, I had the opportunity to start training around the world and competing for Team USA. It's been so interesting to see the way that climate has affected these places that I've gone to maybe 20 years ago or 15 years ago and how different the seasons are. Someone like B, their sport is so reliant on the climate of those locations and someone like me, my sport is a winter sport but it is done indoors. So my, you know, experiences of what is it like in these different areas is so different. I see it at like a sort of a viewership level and she's experiencing it. It is crazy how quickly we've seen the weather shift in these different locations and I think the work that B is doing is so it's so vital. It's so important. We have to act now and I think like she inspires all of us to try to do something to help improve the climate around the world. I mean, even though your sport is indoors, I mean your friends with skiers and snowboarders, like do they have conversations about this like when they're not on the slopes? You know, I think they have conversations about this. Even when they might not realize it's about climate change, but it's how they can't train in certain locations at the same time of year anymore. They're having to go to different locations. They're going to have to train in multiple different locations throughout the year, something that they wouldn't have to do in years past, especially when you're dealing with like the elements. Like that's part of your sport. So you have to follow the snow and when you're following the snow and the climate of the world is getting warmer and warmer, there's it's a limited amount of places that you can go that you're able to train. So it highly affects these athletes. And now to hear more about what we can expect from B Kim and Milan were joined by NBC Olympics. Senior editor Nick Zikardi. Nick, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. So Nick, fewer cities are able to reliably host the winter Olympics because winter's getting warmer. That's of course affecting snow. So what's the IOC's plan for how to handle this situation as the pool of host cities starts to shrink? Well, I think you're already seeing it with the Milan Cortina games, which will be the most spread out winter Olympics in history with four different clusters of competition venues. That way you're casting a wider net of land area to create more options for the best conditions for a given sport. Now the IOC has also talked about the possibility of creating a rotational pool of winter games host, a possible system there. But that's more of a wait and see right now because the next few Olympic hosts are already lined up. These are basically the Northern Italy Olympics, right? It's not just Milan, it's not just Cortina. You know, they're doing Alpine skiing in Borneo, which regularly hosts Alpine skiing. Nothing else has done Borneo. They're doing Biathlon near the border with Austria because that's where they usually knew Biathlon when they do World Cups in that area. So this way, they're not having to build new venues or to worry about whether or not conditions are going to be okay because they are using venues that are already used every year in World Cups and things like that, even though it has to make it more of a spread out Olympics. And we've heard like, you know, some Olympic bids like using multiple countries, right? Because they don't have like a bobsled track in Sweden or something like that. So this is sort of where they're going with this sort of thing, like four different competition clusters is sort of is unheard of. And they're going to have four clusters for the next Olympics in France too. Nick, B is in the same discipline as Chloe Kim, who's the reigning Olympic champion. So what are the similarities and differences between B and Chloe, who I should note are not related? Well, if you remember Adam, the backstory with Chloe was that when she was a little kid, her dad would pack her up in the family car and they would drive hours on weekends from Southern California to Mammoth Mountain, and that's how she learned a snowboard. Well B has a very similar story, also from Southern California, also grew up making those trips to Mammoth Mountain. That's how they're very similar. Of course, they're very different in other ways. I mean, B doesn't have the level of tricks that Chloe has, nobody does. Yeah, she's only 18 years old and she's got a bright future, similar to what Chloe had when she was a teenager. Thanks for joining us, Nick. We appreciate the insight. Thank you guys. On the next episode of my new favorite Olympian, this freestyle skier is looking to get back on top after hitting rock bottom. Skying has always been the easy part. It's just balancing out like a rest of that pie chart of life. You just have to be calculated about when you go like full obsession, crazy mode about something. And then I know when to step out of that. Get to know Nick Gepper on the next episode of my new favorite Olympian. This episode of my new favorite Olympian was produced by NBC Universal Local. Adam Rippon and I, Chase Kane, who are your hosts. This episode was written by Chase Kane and Seth Rubenroy and edited by James Jeffrey. Jeremy Berg served as executive producer, Seth Rubenroy served as the coordinating producer. DS Shen was supervising producer, motion graphics and designed by Aaron Pennell, Miguel Astrada, Alice Hadare, Aaron Pennell, Ray Rodriguez, where the production crew, Steven Dawson was the operations manager. My new favorite Olympian is brought to you by Acura, proud partner of Team USA.