2 Degrees Out West

Western Resource Advocates
  • 4.0 (4)
  • NATURE
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

Listen in as we examine the story behind some of the most pressing conservation issues facing the West. 2 Degrees Out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2° out west we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. We find, legislators, researchers, organizers, conservation advocates, and more to ask about what we can do to help protect the West’s land, air, and water – and, yes, to fight the climate crisis and hold global heating to within 2 degrees Celsius. 

  1. 12/19/2025

    Nevada is in Crisis. Here’s How it Can Get Back on Track.

    Nevada is in crisis.  Rising utility bills have - in the most extreme cases - climbed to over $1,000 a month. Meanwhile, the state is losing ground on emissions reduction goals, which is driving pollution and worsening health outcomes for Nevadans. As temperatures climb higher and higher,  air conditioning in the heat of summer becomes the difference between life and death. As the state warms and drought worsens, bigger and more catastrophic wildfires plague the landscape and threaten homes and businesses.   The state can ultimately link its problems back to one source - fossil fuel emissions.     … But it wasn't always this bad. Nevada used to be a leader in the West in charging forward on affordable, reliable energy goals. So, what has changed? And what caused Nevada to fall behind?  On this episode of Two Degrees Out West, learn about the state’s most pressing challenges and some of the things that can be done to bring Nevada back.  2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    38 min

  2. 12/05/2025 · BONUS

    WRA Mini Pod: A Win in Arizona

    While the recent rollbacks of national climate policy and backtracking of hard-fought wins are especially concerning - they aren't the whole story. there is another key venue where wins are happening.  The states.    States and local governments have the power to set energy regulations, emissions reduction goals, and fund critical clean infrastructure and transportation. They can protect land and water and make critical decisions about how to leverage funds to protect the environment.   Many of these battles happen in state legislatures, and some of them happen in utility commissions - bodies that help regulate utilities and often make key decisions when it comes to enforcing state climate policy.   In 2025, things in Arizona are as dire as ever. Extreme heat and drought plague the state. AI data centers promise to strain an already stressed system. Meanwhile, Arizona has limited commitment to meaningful pollution climate goals and no clear plan for handling the data center boom and the energy and water demands it will bring.   Back in 2024 we did an episode on what was happening at the Arizona Corporation Commission, a key energy regulatory body in Arizona. On last year’s podcast we covered some of the mistakes being made by the ACC. Today, we are talking about a major win we saw against the ACC that advances our goals.    2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    15 min

  3. 10/24/2025

    What is the Climate Cost of AI?

    In the last two years, artificial intelligence has rapidly changed the world that we live in.  If you spend time online, you’ve seen it incorporated into almost every aspect of our digital lives. Search engines, social media, and online tools are all in a race to incorporate AI. Powering AI are data centers – buildings that house endless rows of servers that bring LLMs, cloud computing, and high-speed internet to our fingertips. But all this power comes at a cost. Data centers use energy and water – and plenty of it. Until now those demands have been predictable and easy for utilities to incorporate into their forecasts. Now, the new rapid growth and change of AI threatens to break that mold. WRA has been investing a lot of time and energy into understanding what that cost for the climate could be and solutions to address those costs. To better understand, we asked some of WRAs experts to explain what’s happening with data centers and what we can do about it. In this podcast, we will explore why data centers are different in the age of AI, how they pose a threat, and what our states can do about it. On this Episode of Two Degrees Out West – What is the climate cost of AI, and what can we do about it?  2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    42 min

  4. 10/03/2025 · BONUS

    WRA Mini Pod: Water Meters for the White Mountain Apache Tribe

    The impacts of climate change are becoming harder and harder to ignore. Many communities in the interior West are on the front lines of dealing with these impacts.   The White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona, has been taking steps to mitigate the impacts of drought on their communities. The 1.6 million-acre Fort Apache Indian Reservation is located in east-central Arizona at the headwaters of the Salt River. The river produces over half of the streamflow entering Roosevelt Lake and supplies water to the Salt River Project and Phoenix Metro cities. This summer was a particularly dry summer for the tribe. Previously on 2° Out West we interviewed members of the tribe to talk about their water metering project. The aim is to better track and ultimately conserve the limited water supplies on the reservation. The water meter project is on-going and only becoming more necessary as drought continues.  On this episode of 2° out west we'll once again talk with tribal members to hear how drought is impacting their communities and how water meters can help be part of the solution.   2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    17 min

  5. 08/26/2025

    State Level Climate Action in 2025

    Mere hours after Inauguration Day, the new administration began slashing hard-fought environmental wins: rolling back protections from fossil-fuel development, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, and freezing spending for critical climate resilience projects. The Trump Administration has continued on the path that will end up forcing Americans to pay more for energy, bear the high financial and human costs of air pollution,  face accelerated impacts from climate change and a weaker, less competitive economy. The speed and scale of this dismantling of American leadership on climate and conservation has been staggering. Unquestionably, aggressive defense of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws and protection must be a priority.    So, what is WRA doing? Doubling down on state action.  We know that climate and conservation progress is both still possible and is critical in this moment. At WRA, we’ve spent more than three decades advancing critical climate, environmental and conservation policies in the decision-making forums where most conservation policy is made —at the state level.  Why? State governments hold significant authority to advance clean energy, to regulate polluting fossil fuel sources, and to protect people in our communities.  Cities and counties can adopt sustainable and efficient water use practices, smart land use plans and invest in clean infrastructure that can power our homes and our transportation systems. These decisions add up to protect the West. In 2025 our work saw climate wins in all of our states. We have already covered Utah and New Mexico where we saw progress on clean transportation and wildlife protection respectively, among other wins.  Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado all have longer legislative sessions. So how did those states do in advancing wins for the environment and economy of the West?   On this episode of 2 Degrees Out West learn how WRA has helped states stay strong even as federal progress on climate action stalls.  2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    35 min

  6. 07/01/2025 · BONUS

    WRA Mini Pod: What's Happening on the Colorado River?

    In 2022, the water levels in Lake Powell dropped so low that experts worried the Colorado River wouldn't be able to flow past Glen Canyon dam. This situation is called deadpool, and it's one of many concerns surrounding a drier and hotter Colorado River.   All forecasting points to another dry year for the basin - this is expected to continue over the long term as climate change affects the West. If you're following the news around the Colorado River, you might know that we've come to a serious decision point. The river is getting drier while our use has only grown over time.  The current guidelines that manage the water in the river expire in 2026 - leaving the door open to create new guidelines that better manage the river and its drinking water supply into the future.  We talked a little about the future of the river with Kevin Fedarko back in January. So how are things going now?  ... WRA is engaged in the process to create real solutions that consider the health of the river and the long-term sustainability for our communities.  Right now, the seven Colorado River Basin States are talking about these guidelines, but they haven't made much progress. We had a conversation with one of WRA's experts on the Colorado River - John Berggren. John has been deeply involved in the work to create new guidelines.  He gives a quick update about the state of our snowpack in the West, where the negotiations on the river are at, and what we need to see in the future to sustain a healthy Colorado River.  On this Two Degrees Out West Mini Pod: How are the Colorado River negotiations going?  2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    15 min

  7. 05/30/2025

    Utah and New Mexico 2025 Legislative Recap

    Each year WRA works hard to advance our climate goals on the state level.   In an increasingly uncertain federal environment, state level action is the key to seeing real change and progress on climate.   WRA has been working at state legislatures all throughout 2025 to bring forward proactive policies that fight climate change and its impacts.  We’ve also defended against anything that could hold us back from the future we want for our region.  Two of our states with the shortest legislative sessions are Utah and New Mexico.   ... In 2025 New Mexico had a 60 day session while Utah had a 45 day session.  In both states we saw a variety of wins and opportunities for success in the future. We sat down with some of WRA’s policy and government affairs staff to understand what our goals were and what some of our biggest wins were in those states.   On this episode of Two Degrees out West: How did Utah and New Mexico do on Climate in the 2025 legislative session?  2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    37 min

  8. 04/22/2025

    The Power of Energy Planning: IRPs in the West

    In the West, we want a future where we're no longer dependent on coal and methane to meet energy demands. We want to see more clean energy adopted and we want to keep that clean energy affordable.  Nearly two-thirds of voters in the West want to see a transition to a 100% clean and renewable energy economy.   So - How do we get there?  What if I told you there was a lesser known but critical regulatory process that can create real emission reductions on the ground?  Integrated Resource Plans are one of the most important tools we have to fight climate change - but they aren't talked about much.  It's a state level process that determines  how much of your power comes from clean sources - like wind and solar.   And the IRP has a significant impact on the energy bill you pay at the end of the month.   On today's episode of two Degrees out west learn about one of the most important parts of the transition to clean energy that you may have never heard about - and how WRA uses that process to secure a cleaner future for the West.  2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming. 2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. It is Hosted by Dave Papineau Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West? Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram. Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes. Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West. ...

    34 min
See All (53)

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Listen in as we examine the story behind some of the most pressing conservation issues facing the West. 2 Degrees Out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West. On 2° out west we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home. We find, legislators, researchers, organizers, conservation advocates, and more to ask about what we can do to help protect the West’s land, air, and water – and, yes, to fight the climate crisis and hold global heating to within 2 degrees Celsius. 

Information

  • Creator
    Western Resource Advocates
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 2 Degrees Out West
  • Show Website
    2 Degrees Out West

You Might Also Like