Huntington Beach environmental advocate asks ‘What’s Going On?’ with new podcast
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Christine Mulholland can trace her environmentalist roots back to when she was about 5 years old.
On rainy days back then, she would put on her boots and grab an umbrella. She’d also round up the other kids on her block.
“I would put this worm-saving committee together,” Mulholland said with a laugh. “I would make everyone help me rescue the worms out of the gutter, and put them back in the grass and the soil. That’s where my passion for animals literally extended to worms, OK?”
She was the kid who cried when — spoiler alert — Mufasa died in the movie “The Lion King.” Other experiences also shaped her along the way, like reading the book “Ishmael,” by Daniel Quinn, which explores life through the eyes of a gorilla.
As an adult, Mulholland sees ecosystems that are more and more out of whack, and animals that have their population numbers dwindling.
It’s a lot for the Huntington Beach entrepreneur, or anyone really, to digest. But she created a podcast this year to help try to make sense of it all.
The “What’s Going On?” podcast dives into global challenges, but also spirituality, health and wellness tips and more. It asks questions of a world that Mulholland sees as chaotic and uncertain.
“The world is talking to us,” said Mulholland, 38, a graduate of Fountain Valley High School and Cal State Long Beach. “There are so many different events that have happened that are showing that the Earth is talking to us, she’s telling us that this is not the way. We’ve got to change our ways, and quickly, and I don’t think that a lot of people understand — or they feel apathetic and they don’t know how to help or what to do. Compounded by all of this war stuff going on, the political divide, it all feels like such a distraction from what’s really important and really threatening our survival as a species on this planet.”
Mulholland in 2012 co-founded an environmental and wildlife conservation nonprofit called Generation Awakening. In 2018, she put on a 5K “Race Against Extinction” locally that raised more than $40,000 to protect endangered species and their habitats.
A bit tired of constantly fundraising, she wanted to earn more income herself to fund her passions. She teamed with Chef Matthew Kenney to launch “Veg’D,” a vegan drive-through restaurant in Costa Mesa that opened in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic during the pandemic but closed in February 2024, a victim of what Mulholland said was sky-high rent that made it difficult to turn a profit.
“The numbers didn’t work,” she said. “Then, I realized I had nothing left. I lost all of my savings and everything, and all I had left was my voice. It just all came back full circle. I started Veg’D to help causes that I care about, but I could just do that using my voice, which is free. That’s how the podcast was kind of born.”
She has released a few episodes of “What’s Going On?” already on Spotify and YouTube, featuring Mulholland interviewing guests passionate about the environment and other issues. She has already recorded about 20 episodes, and those released so far include talks with renowned photojournalist and conservationist Paul Hilton, personal development leader Kute Blackson and Hongxiang Huang of “Agent C,” who goes undercover to expose illegal wildlife poaching in black markets worldwide.
Mulholland’s younger sister Tracy, a writer and science teacher, has served as her sounding board as the podcast has gotten off the ground.
“I think it’s great that she’s trying to bring awareness to all of these wildlife situations,” Tracy Mulholland said. “I actually left publishing research because I was like, it’s falling on deaf ears. So, I think she’s got a good platform in that she’s relatable and young and fun and this cute girl, but she also cares deeply about animals and wildlife and our planet. It’s a good combination, and I’m hoping that people will actually listen.”
Christine Mulholland resists the use of a loaded word like “activist” in describing herself, adding that she rejects the two-party political system that too often is funded by billionaires pulling the strings.
“This is very common sense, just someone who loves our planet and animals and wildlife and wants a thriving ecosystem for our children and grandchildren,” she said. “To be like, oh I’m a radical environmentalist for not wanting to cut down the trees that give us oxygen, for wanting a healthy ocean, that’s crazy … Our planet needs more people speaking about the atrocities going on, and trying to change the way that we operate.”
Upcoming guests on the “What’s Going On?” podcast, which will release episodes once or twice a week, include anti-whaling activist Capt. Paul Watson, breathwork and somatic therapist Alyssa Stefanson and more. She said she doesn’t want the environmental conversations to be overly depressing, so she seeks to balance them out with other voices and topics.
Mulholland has recorded podcast episodes both at her home in Huntington Beach and at Dream X Studios in Newport Beach.
Her goal is to become a wide-reaching, top 1% podcast with millions of listeners worldwide. She appreciates a well-known quote attributed to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs praising the misfits and troublemakers, the round pegs in a square hole who see things differently.
Nowadays Mulholland no longer rounds up worm rescue committees, but she tries to use the air conditioning sparingly in her home — thinking of the Arctic ice pack when she does — and always recycles.
According to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2024, there was a 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations from 1970 to 2020.
“I want to start a global conversation with all of the good people of the world,” Mulholland said. “We need to band together, you know? There’s more good people than bad. It seems so bleak, but if we all came together, [the bad people] would be outnumbered. Let’s come together, make better, sane decisions and have better global conversations than the ones we’re having right now.”
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