Policy Associate & Deputy Editor · C3 Solutions
Cecilia Fassett is a policy associate and deputy editor at C3 Solutions. She writes about agriculture, forestry, and conservation, produces policy research, and helps oversee the Journal’s daily editorial work.
Conservation
The Great Salt Lake is drying up. Since the mid-1980s, the lake has dropped 22 feet, and its surface area is 60 percent smaller than it once was. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider this: it takes 12 minutes and 13 seconds to walk from where the lake’s shoreline once was to where it is today.
Conservation
Washington, D.C., may long be tired of the frigid temps, above-average snowfall, and icy roads. But out West, signs reading “Pray for snow” are everywhere. Utah Governor Spencer Cox even encouraged Utahns to join together in prayer for snow.
Conservation
A recent report from ConservAmerica analyzed two decades of energy and infrastructure projects to quantify the ESA’s effects. What it found is that the United States regularly spends billions of dollars fighting over endangered species in court when it should prioritize preventative conservation and economic incentives.
Agriculture
When most Americans talk about agriculture, they don’t start with emissions targets or land-use debates. They start with the price of food. Often, the mainstream environmental movement overlooks this reality, prioritizing solutions that may reduce environmental impacts but risk undermining an affordable, abundant, and reliable food supply. C3 Solutions’ research shows this is a false tradeoff. Innovation is the path to lower food prices, stronger farm economies, and better environmental outcomes.
Conservation
Ringing in the new year in Washington is often accompanied by the hope that your “fill-in-the-blank” long-stalled policy priority finally makes headway. When it comes to forest management, Congress can’t afford another year of delay.
Conservation
The ocean is the largest and most consequential ecosystem on Earth. It regulates the climate, absorbs 30 percent of annual carbon emissions, supports millions of species, and drives economic activity through fisheries, trade, shipping, and tourism. Modern life depends on a functioning, healthy ocean.
Conservation
Most Americans only think about turkeys once a year, when Thanksgiving rolls around. We often take for granted that there will be a bird at the grocery store in exactly the size and weight we want. But what many don’t know is that wild turkeys, the domestic turkey’s ancestor, were once nearly wiped out across much of the United States due to overhunting and habitat loss.
Conservation
Each year, Americans spend billions fighting fires that could have been prevented for much less. In 2023 alone, the government spent nearly $4.5 billion on wildfire suppression. Add in the destroyed homes, shut down businesses, and smoke-related health costs, and the total cost soars well into the tens of billions.
Conservation
From bourbon barrels to kitchen chairs, America’s white oaks sustain vital industries and ecosystems of the eastern United States. Yet today, these trees are aging faster than they can regenerate.
Conservation
Last month, the Trump Administration’s Interior Department reignited this debate by proposing to rescind this rule, which would remove conservation as an eligible “use” for BLM land. What the rescission proposal gets wrong is the difference between conservation and preservation.
Conservation
After passing the House in January with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) had been at a standstill for the past nine months– until yesterday.
Agriculture
Few examples make that clearer than U.S. Sugar, a Florida-based sugarcane grower and processor that’s turned decades of research and innovation into measurable, on-the-ground environmental progress. From planting and harvesting to processing and transporting roughly 13 percent of America’s refined sugar, the company has incorporated efficient and sustainable practices into each stage of its operation.
