Editors' Summary: Both George Bush and Michael Dukakis promise that if elected they will devote high-priority attention to environmental issues. Opinion polls consistently show that these candidates are articulating views on the environment that have now become an ingrained and durable part of the American public's values. A major challenge for environmental professionals in the coming year will be how to translate this sentiment into action, particularly during the "honeymoon period" of a newly elected president.

In this Dialogue, the authors propose several means to move the environmental agenda forward in 1989. They recommend a Presidential Commission on the Environment, and suggest specific consideration of merging the environmental mandates of diverse federal agencies, integration of media-specific environmental statutes, higher priority for waste minimization, a more insightful approach to pollution from federal facilities, and a wider sharing of objective scientific background for difficult policy decisions.