In the 1990s, citizens regard green lawns and golf courses with attitudes ranging from pleasure for their beauty to dismay caused by concerns for environmental consequences. Citizens concerned with environmental consequences describe fertilizers or pesticides that may be harmful to groundwater or other organisms while others worry about the harm caused by more bee stings or economic and aesthetic losses caused by unsightly weeds. Both sides of an issue can be supported by facts. The listener may have difficulty forming an opinion since many issues do not have a clearly right or wrong approach. How should educators deal with this sort of dilemma? Are learning methods available to explore people's values, data, assumptions, and practices?

The Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) within the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated several programs to reduce risks associated with the use of pesticides. Examples include accelerated registration of new products (including biological pesticides) that offer reduced risk to human health and the environment, and regulatory relief for products posing virtually no risk to provide replacement for more problematic pesticides. In addition, efforts are being undertaken to reduce pesticide resistance in target pests, develop joint “Environmental Stewardship” efforts between the EPA, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The new Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division (BPPD), established as a pilot in October 1994, has responsibility for many above functions, with special emphasis on registration of biological pesticides and development of the new Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP). This program is designed to recognize achievements already made by farmers to reduce conventional pesticide use and to find further improvements through cooperative efforts with growers.

Food safety concerns involving pesticide residues continue to receive widespread public, legislative, and scientific attention. The National Research Council's 1993 report Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children concluded that significant improvements in the U.S. government's pesticide risk assessment and food tolerance establishment procedures were needed. Strict interpretation of the Delaney Clause by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has led to the projected elimination of several pesticide uses due to statutory, rather than scientific considerations. Congressional “solutions” to the Delaney problem may have broad impacts upon future pest management practices if adopted. Emerging issues include the safety of imported produce and the potential effects of trade agreements such as NAFTA and GATT upon U.S. pesticide residue standards.