Host Justin Riney welcomes John Skabardonis, a PhD chemist turned marketer who recently retired from corporate life and now runs Optimist Consulting and writes the Tech Nuggets newsletter.

They discuss how technical experts can better reach non-technical audiences through “scientific storytelling,” doing audience homework, and improving delivery (including Toastmasters) so messages resonate.

The conversation focuses on plastics industry marketing failures, fear marketing (e.g., “BPA-free”), chemophobia, and the need to frame issues in terms of risk rather than jargon. John recounts Bayer/Covestro’s BPA water-bottle controversy, argues human behavior drives problems like pollution and PFAS exposure, critiques microplastics headlines and contamination, and calls for coordinated, grassroots, multi-platform advocacy—also not ...