A Nat'l Center for Chemistry Education

Ash Jogulegar proposed a National Center for Chemistry Education (NCCE) as a non-partisan, non-corp chemistry education lobbying organization volunteering time for the improving public knowledge. So pure of an intention is almost irrevocably on-course for corruption. Still, I applaud the goal. The core publicity challenge to chemistry is pollution. Regardless of the true severity or extent, industrial pollution holds special symbolism in the public mind. It sets the ground for all suspicion. Any chemistry-PR org that doesn’t touch that issue is seen as whitewashing it, and thusly sinks under the “shill” label. Address the issue in any way, and corporate sponsorship will push for labeling the organization as “activists”. Safely build up reputation away from issues on the public mind, and it remains safely boring. Sadly, volunteer organizations are most populated by those with axes to grind in the pursuit of missions that often ignore some sides of the science. I think the EWG (Environmental Working Group) had a long run of being a good model here: more fair than ‘either side’ really wanted.


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